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BOSTON SIGHTS; 



HAND-BOOK 



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VISITORS 



R. L. MIDGLEY. 



ILLUSTRATED BY 



BILLINGS, HILL, BARRY, AND JOHN ANDREW. 



BOSTON: 
A. WILLIAMS AND COMPANY. 

1 8 G 5 . 






■Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

JOHN ANDREAV, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



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PREFACE 



The ."^ant of a Guide such as the one here 
presented to the Travellmg PubKc, has been so 
long felt and so generally acknowledged, that 
an apology for the present Av^ork would be an 
impeachment of the judgment of the intelligent 
Tourist. 

This work, although more particularly designed 
for the use of travellers, will be found of great 
service to the public generally, for few of the 
inhabitants know where to see the sights in 
the city, nor how to see them. 

The materials for this publication have been 
collected with great care, and here " the writer 
wishes it distinctly understood, that he has not 
hesitated to gather his materials wherever he 
could find them, availing himself in the freest 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



DEPOTS. 



Eastern, 114 

Fitchbm-g, 116 

LoAveU 113 

Maine, 119 

Old Colony and Fall River, 89 

Providence, 81 

Worcester, . . ,86 

FORTIFICATIONS. 

Cambridge, 131 

Dorchester, . . . . . . . . .176 

Fort Independence, . . . . . . . .195 

Fort Warren, 191 

Fort Winthi-op, 197 

Hai-bor, Boston, 190 



HALLS. 

Chapman Hall ^^ 

Cochituate «« 46 

Horticultural HaU, 31 

Mercantile *• l*^'^ 

Faneuil " • . 10 

ISLANDS, (in Boston Harbor.) 

Castle Island, l^'*^ 

Deer « ^^1 

George's *< ^^^ 

Long « ^^^ 

Lower Light Island, • ^^'• 

Nix's Mate «• ^91 

Rainsford " ^^} 

Spectacle «« \^}. 

Thompson's " j^^ 

Governor's *« ^^' 



LIBRARIES. 

"•rince Library, .28 

'ercantile Library, 106 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



3 



Public Library, 83 

Athenaeum *' 43 

Har^-ard «' 133 

Society of Natural History, 103 

Massachusetts Historical Society 40 

Athenseum, 41 

Masonic Temple, 56 

Time Lodges meet 58 



MONUMENTS. 

National Monument to the Forefathers, 
Bunker Hill •' .... 

"Warren '• 



Nahant, 
Nahant Beach, 
Egg Rock, 
Iron Mine, 
Spouting Horn, . 
Saunders's Ledge, 
Castle Rock, 
Caldron CUiT, 
Roaring Cavem. 
Natural Bridge, 
Pulpit Rock, 
Swallows' Cave, 
L-ene's Grotto, . 
Nahant House, 
Old House, 
Post Office, . 
Public Garden, . 



92- 
154 
155 

181 
183 
184 
184 
184 
183 
184 
185 
185 
185 
185 
186 
187 
187 
3 
18 
81 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 

Public Librar}', 83 

Massachusetts General Hospital, 121 

McLean Asylum, 123 

Medical College, 124 

City Jail, 125 

Eye and Ear Infirmarj-, 127 

Perkins Institute for the Blind 176 

Quarantine, . . . . . . •. . . 191 

Almshouse, 193 

Farm School, . ' 191 

States Prison, 161 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. 

Music Hall, 54 

Boston Theatre, 95 

Mclodeon, 101 

Ord way's Hall, 109 

Howard Athenaium, Ill 

National Theatre, 112 

Museum, .35 

Tremont Temple, . . 47 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

U. S. Custom House •. . .14 

Faneuil Hall Market, 11 

Faneuil Hall 9 

Exchange, 16 

Old State House, 19 

State House, 50 

Post Office, 18 

Court House, 29 

City Hall 28 

Public Library 83 

U. S. Courts Ill 

SQUARES. 

Bowdoin Square, Ill 

Dock «♦ 3 

Haymarket " 119 

Franklin " 200 

Blackstone «' 199 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

Cambridge, . . . 131 

Concord, 134 

Lexington, 175 

Dorchester Heights, . 176 

Nahant, 181 

Bishop's Palace 138 

Washington's Residence, 141 

Riedesel House, . . . . . . " . . .141 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



RAILROADS. 

Providence . 81 

Worcester, .......... 87 

Old Colony and FaU River, ...... 89 

Cambridge, (Horse,) Ill 

Lowell, 113 

Eastern, 115 

Fitchbiirg, 117 

Maine, 120 

TREES. 

Great Elm, . . . . - 71 

Washington Elm, 142 



BOSTON SIGHTS 



CHAPTER I. 

DOCK-SQUARE. — OLD HOUSE. BOSTON STONE. 







You are a stranger in 
Boston, and desirous of 
visiting the principal 
objects of interest in the 
" City of Notions." 
This little book is in- 
tended to be a Guide, 
not a History ; therefore 
we shall not enter into any details respecting the rise 
and progress of Boston. If you know nothing of that. 




2S BOSTON SIGHTS. 

but are desirous of such information, procure Drake's 
History, published by Stevens, Washington-street, and in 
it you will find all you require. 

"We will, then, suppose you have arrived in Boston, and 
that, having located yourself at one of its many spacious 
hotels, you have commenced your tour of the city. It is 
always well to have some defined point to start from, and 
therefore we will select Dock-square as the scene of our 
first exploration. 

Dock-square. — It is not a square now, in the pleasant 
acceptation of the word, though probably ♦' once upon a 
time " it was. Very long ago grass might have grown 
there, and trees flourished, and birds sung, and no dock 
ever have been dreamed of. Only a prowling Indian, 
in search of a squaw or a scalp, might have been seen in 
the vicinity, and all excitement have been confined to a 
palaver around the council-fire. But a truce to the past ; 
it is Dock-square, and nothing else, now. 

And, in lieu of groves or glades, we have a busy, open 
space, with labyrinthine thoroughfares leading into and out 
of it. Bustling, anxious-faced men are to be seen there 
at all hours of the day, rushing hither and thither, intent 
on dollars and dimes. House and hotel keepers pay 
flying visits to the market close by ; visitors from all parts 
of the States look curiously at the " Cradle of Liberty ; " 
omnibuses rush along, distracting perilled pedestrians; 



DOCK-SQUARE. 8 

market-carts, laden with country produce, stand sur- 
rounded by dealers, and everything is full of life and 
animation. Looking calmly down upon and over- 
ehadowing this scene of commercial activity, is a huge 
structure — Faneuil Hall. Of it we shall presently 
speak. At present let us direct our glance to — artis- 
tically speaking — a " bit " of Old Boston. 




Old House. — There it stands at the corner of North 
and Market streets, dingy, quaint, time-battered, many- 
gabled, but picturesque, for all that. They say it was built 



4 BOSTON SKIUTS. 

in the year 1680, soon after the great fire of 1679. The 
peaks of the roof remain precisely as they were first 
erected, the frame and external appearance never having 
been altered. The timber used in the building was prin- 
cipally oak, and, where it has been kept dry, is perfectly 
sound, and intensely hard. The outside is covered with 
plastering, or what is commonly called rough-cast. But 
instead of pebbles, which are generally used at the present 
day to make a hard surface on the mortar, broker! glass 
was used. This glass appears like that of common junk- 
bottles, broken into pieces of about half an inch diameter, 
the sharp corners of which penetrate the cement in such a 
manner that this great lapse of years has had no percep- 
tible eff'ect upon them. The figures 1680 were impressed 
into the rough-cast to show the year of its erection, 
and are now perfectly legible. This surface was also 
variegated with ornamental squares, diamonds, and flowers- 
de-luce. The building is only two stories high, and is 
about thirty-two feet long and seventeen wide ; yet tra- 
dition informs us that it was once the residence of two 
respectable families, and the front part was at the same 
time occupied for two shops, or stores. 

Before long, perhaps, the giant Progress may, in his 
march of improvement, tread down this ancient dwelling 
and where the sunshine and the moonlight glimmered on 
its dim windows for years, great granite, unpicturesque 



OLD HO^JSE. 5 

warehouses may rise and throw grim commercial shadows 
over the thoroughfare. But we have an antiquarian's 
desire that it may remain, if only as a memorial of the 
early days of Boston. Its very dinginess is delightful. 
From the upper windows, just beneath those peaked roofs, 
some gentleman of the olden days might, " once upon a 
time," have looked upon his little ones sporting among 
the daisies of his garden; or some pretty maiden have 
watched its lozenge-shaped panes flashing back the moon- 
beams as she sauntered home with her lover from their 
evening walk in the mall on Boston Common; for as early 
as 1646 that now unrivalled promenade was so called. 

Few care about the old North-street house, now-a-days. 
In neglect and decay, it is eclipsed by its modern neigh- 
bors. Careless and careful folk alike hurry by it; but 
occasionally children lift up their little, wondering eyes to 
the strange habitation. And to them it is indeed strange ; 
they are so used to newness and novelty, that they can 
scarcely comprehend antiquity. To many a youthful 
mind an old-fashioned house raises ideas of spectral ladies 
and gentlemen walking up and down impossible stairs, or 
gliding through dreary rooms, or of ghostly individuals 
loudly clanking invisible chains ; but in the case of this 
old dwelling of North-street such dismal ideas are rapidly 
put to flight by furs hanging out of the windows, and 



6 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

various articles for sale in the stores beneath. Super- 
stition flies before " Sales for Cash ! " 

Boston Stone, a sketch of which forms the vignette 
illustration of this chapter, was found in the cellar of a 
house in Marshall-street. A resident in the neighborhood 
says it was a paint-mill, the ball being what painters now 
call the muUer. The paint was placed in the cavity of a 
flat stone, and there ground with oil by the ball. Other 
explanations as to the origin and uses of this Boston 
Stone are afloat, but it is needless to repeat them here. 
The stone itself, however, is worthy of inspection, and 
deserves, perhaps, an antiquarian immortality. 

Dr. J. V. C. Smith, in his " Ancient and Modern 
Boston," published in the Boston Almanac for 1853, says : 
* There are reminiscences connected with the growth of 
Boston that deserve to be kept in remembrance. For 
example, where the Maine Station House, in Haymarket- 
square, stands, there was an open canal but a few years 
ago, and the line of the track is over the course of it to 
the water. Where Causeway-street is, there was formerly 
a wall from Lowell-street, running north-easterly to rear 
of Charlestown old bridge, called the Causeway, making a 
pond of many acres, between Prince and Pitts streets. 
Many aged persons are in the habit of calling all that 
region between Merrimac and Prince streets, to this day, 
the Mill Pond. A remnant of the last tide-mill is still 



ANCIENT AND MODERN BOSTON. 7 

believed to exist on the east side of Charlestown-street, in 
the form of a stable. All of that large tract* of land 
known technically as the South Cove was actually a body 
of water, covering an area of seventy-two acres, within 
the recollection of those not far removed from childhood. 
The Neck may truly be said to be nearly all artificial. 
Where the wide street runs to Roxbury, was a mere 
ridge, scarcely removed from the reach of high tides, at the 
period of the Revolution. By building the Boston and 
Roxbury Mill-dam, the whole of the back bay, between 
Washington-street and the wall, was reclaimed from 
Charles river and the ocean. 

" Whole streets have been detached from the domain of 
Neptune, as India, Broad, Commercial, Brighton, nearly 
the whole of Charles, Fayette, and several more that are 
now at considerable distance from the water. At East 
Boston very large additions to the territory have been 
Inade within a few years. All the wharves, by which 
Boston is nearly surrounded, are certainly artificial works, 
of immense cost, but esteemed excellent and productive 
property. It is not improbable that men are now living 
who remember to have seen the bowsprit of vessels pro- 
jecting into Liberty-square." 

Boston is styled the Athens of America. It should 
have been the State. In Boston the princely merchant's 
warehouse presents the appearance of a palace, massive 



8 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

and grand. His counting-room is a picture of opulence, 
spacious and beautiful ; his ware-rooms are crowded with 
the products of manufacture. Massive buildings of 
granite, all presenting the neatest and brightest appear- 
ance, everywhere meet the eye. Along the wharves 
immense ranges of warehouses extend the whole length, 
at which the finest ships are discharging their foreign 
cargoes. Again, encircling her " Common," rise in beau- 
teous outlines spacious mansions, having the appearance 
of palaces, and presenting a scene of quiet beauty, 
unsurpassed by anything in the world ; they are the 
residences of her merchant princes. The whole scene is 
clothed in neatness, regularity, and good order ; there is a 
characteristic quietness about it which the people of Mas- 
sachusetts have made their own. Her public men are far- 
seeing, discreet, and dignified ; and when they move it is to 
some purpose. Her merchants are cautious, systematic in 
their business transactions, ready to advance in their 
proper time, and distinguished from that recklessness 
which marks the New Yorker. 




CHAPTER II. 

FANEUIL HALL. FANEUIL HALL MARKET. CUSTOM 

HOUSE. EXCHANGE. OLD STATE HOUSE. 




We must not leave this neighborhood yet, for the Old 
House we have just been describing is not the only object 
of interest hereabout. There is another noticeable build- 
ing — second, indeed, in interest to no other in Boston. 

(9) 



10 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

It is Faneuil Hall, or, as it is patriotically and meta- 
phorically termed, " The Cradle of American Liberty ^^ 
Not to Boston alone, but to the entire country does it 
seem to belong ; for in the annals of America it holds a 
foremost and. most honorable position. Within its walls 
some of the finest specimens of American eloquence that 
have been heard from the days of Washington to those 
of Webster were delivered. When despotism threatened 
the colonies of George the Third, the first tones of defi- 
ance were uttered in Faneuil Hall. Liberty held there 
her high court, and from thence issued decrees a thousand 
times more potent than a king's proclamation or a czar*s 
ukase. What wonder, then, that from far and near come 
admiring visitors to it, or that Boston should be proud of 
its possession ? 

Years ago there lived m Boston a merchant whose 
name was Peter Faneuil. He it was who immortalized 
his name by the gift of the building to the town of Bos- 
ton, for a town hall and market place. It was the best 
monument to his memory that he could possibly have 
devised. Faneuil Hall is a large, many-windowed struc- 
ture, of no particular order of architecture, surmounted 
by a cupola. The great hall to which you ascend (for 
the lower story is not a market now, but is divided into 
stores) is seventy-six feet square, and twenty-eight high ; 
round three sides runs a gallery, and Doric pillars sup- 



FANEUIL HALL. 



11 



port the ceiling. At the west end are several paintings 
— one«t)f Peter Faneuil in full length ; another of Wash- 
ington by Stuart ; and there has recently been added 
Healey's picture of Webster making his celebrated speech 
in reply to Hayne. 

Over the gi-eat hall is another, where military equip- 
ments ai'e kept; and there are also various offices for 
civic functionaries. 

Leaving Faneuil Hall at its eastern end, and crossing 




Merchants' Row, we arrive at the entrance of Faneuil 
Hall Makket. It is raised on a base of blue Quincy 



12 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

granite, with arched windows and doors communicating 
with cellars. The length of the Market is five hnndred 
and eighty-five feet nine inches, the width fifty feet, and 
built entirely of granite. In the centre is a building 
seventy-four and a half by fifty-five feet, with projecting 
north and south fronts. At each end of the building are 
porticos. Over the Market proper is a second story, in 
the centre of which is a hall seventy feet by fifty, crowned 
by a dome, and named Quincy Hall, after Josiah Quincy, 
former mayor of the city, and is but a fitting monument 
of his genius. This hall and Faneuil Hall are united by 
a bridge thrown across the street once in three years, and 
in them the Massachusetts Mechanics' Charitable Associa- 
tion holds its fair. 

The principal entrances to the corridor, where the mar- 
ket is held, are from the eastern and western porticos. 
The corridor itself is eight hundred and twelve feet long 
by twelve wide. This space is divided into stalls, where 
various articles of provisions are always on sale. There 
are fourteen departments for mutton, lamb, veal, and 
poultry ; two for poultry and venison ; nineteen for pork, 
lamb, mutton, and poultry ; forty -five for beef; four for 
butter and cheese ; nineteen for vegetables ; and twenty 
for fish. Besides these, the visitor will, as he strolls from 
stall to stall, perceive many varieties of creature comfort ; 
and in one place he will be charmed with the melodv of 



CUSTOM HOUSE. 13 

birds offered for sale in cages, and his olfactories may be 
regaled by odors from countless bouquets. 

Faneuil Hall Market was commenced on the 20th of 
August, 1824. Beneath the corner stone was deposited 
a plate bearing the following inscription : — 

"Faneuil Hall Market, established by the city of 
Boston. This stone was laid April 27, Anno Domini 
Mdcccxxv., in the forty-ninth year of American Inde- 
pendence, and in the third of the incorporation of the 
city. John Quincy Adams, President of the United 
States. Marcus Morton, Lt. Governor and Commander- 
in-Chief of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The 
population of the city estimated at 50,000 ; that of the 
United States, 11,000,000." 

The Market is situated between North and South Mar- 
ket Streets, in each of which business of various kinds, to 
immense amounts, is transacted. 

Leaving the Market, a few steps through Commercial 
Street bring us to the United States Custom House. 
It is an imposing edifice, standing at the head of the dock 
between Long and Central Wharves, at the foot of State 
Street. It is in the form of a Greek cross, the opposite 
sides and ends being alike. It is one hundred and forty 
feet long, north and south, seventy-five feet wide at the 
ends, and ninety-five feet through the centre. It is sur- 
mounted by a flat dome, which is ninety-five feet from 
2 



14 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



the floor, and is built in the pure Doric order of architec 
ture. Each front has a portico of six fluted Doric col- 
umns, thirty-two feet in height, and five feet four inches in 
diameter, and is approached by fourteen steps. The col- 
umns are in one piece of highly -wrought granite, and each 
weighs forty-two tons. 




The Custom House is built on three thousand piles, 
driven in the most thorough manner. Immediately on the 
top of these piles is a platform of granite, one foot six 
inches thick, laid in hydraulic cement, and upon it the 
foundations of the walls were commenced. 



CUSTOM HOUSE. 15 

The roof of the building is covered with wrought gran- 
ite tile, and the intersection of the cross is surmounted by 
a dome terminating in a skylight twenty -five feet in diam- 
eter. The dome is also covered with granite tile. 

The cellai', which is ten feet six inches high to the 
crown of the arches, is principally .used for the storage of 
goods, wliich are conveyed to it through the basement 
story. 

The principal ingress to the entrance story is through 
the porticos. This story contains apartments and offices 
for the assistant treasurer, the weighers and gangers, the 
measurers, inspectors, markers, superintendent of build- 
ing, &c. In the centre is a large vestibule, from which 
two broad flights of steps lead to the principal story, land- 
ing in two smaller vestibules therein, lighted by skylights 
in the roof; and these vestibules communicate with all the 
apartments in this story. The several rooms are for the 
collector, assistant collector, naval officer, surveyor, pubHc 
storekeeper, their deputies and clerks. The grand cross- 
shaped rotunda, for the general business of the collector's 
department, in the centre of this story, is finished in the 
Grecian Corinthian order. It is sixty-three feet in its 
greatest length, fifty-nine feet wide, and sixty-two feet 
high to the skylight. 

The ceiling is supported by twelve columns of mar- 
ble, three feet in diameter and twenty-nine feet in height, 



16 



BOSTON SIGHTS 



with highly-wrought capitals; the ceiling is ornamented 
in a neat and chaste manner, and the skylight is filled 
with stained glass. 

The building was commenced in 1837, and entirely 
completed in 1849. It has cost about $1,076,000, includ- 
ing the site, foundations,^c. 




^^^^^\ 










Passing up State Street, we soon reach The Exchange. 
It is a splendid building, fronting on State Street. The 
comer stone was laid August 2, 1841 ; the building com- 
pleted 1842, and cost, exclusive of land, $175,000. The 
width on State Street is seventy-six feet, the height seventy 



TflE EXCHANGE. 



17 



feet, the depth two hundred and fiftj feet, and it covers 
thirteen thousand feet of land. 

The front is of Quiney granite, and has six columns, 
each forty-five feet in height, and weighing fifty -five tons. 
The staircases are of iron and stone, and the entire build- 
ing is fire-proof The front is occupied by banks, insur- 
ance and other offices, and the rear is a hotel, while at the 
top is a telegraph station. There are three entrances, 
one on State, one on Congress, and one on Lindall Street. 




The Merchants' Exchange is up stairs, and is a 
magnificent hall, eighty feet by fifty-eight feet, having its 
2* 



18 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

ceiling supported by eighteen imitation Sienna marble 
columns, with Corinthian capitals. There is a grand 
dome overhead, filled with stained glass. Here news- 
papers from all. parts of the world are received, read, and 
filed. A superintendent, registrar, news collector, boat- 
men, messengers, &c., are attached to the room, and are 
in attendance from seven o'clock in the morning until ten 
at night. Vessels arriving are immediately registered, as 
well as shipping news telegraphed from distant ports. 
Clearances, invoices per raih'oad, ships, &c., are all en- 
tered, with the name of the consignee, on books kept for 
the purpose. Sales of stocks, cotton, &c., are also regis- 
tered. Merchants, singly, are admitted to all the privi- 
leges of the room for eight dollars a year ; firms of two 
persons, ten dollars, &c. These are called subscribers, 
and have the privilege of introducing strangers, whose 
names having been registered in a book kept for that pur- 
pose, are allowed to visit the room and read the papers 
during their stay in the city. The board of brokers have 
their rooms in the Exchange ; and other portions of it are 
used for banking offices, brokers' offices, railroad offices, &c. 
The architectural beauty of the building, and the chaste 
but elaborate workmanship of its rotunda, are alone worth 
a visit. 

The centre of the basement story is occupied by the 
Post Office, where there is a general delivery, a box 



% 



THE OLD STATE HOUSE. 19 

delivery, a ladies' delivery, and a newspaper delivery, 
besides telegraph and bank offices. 

On Change are anxious men, during banking hours, as 
ever met to buy stocks, sell shares, lend money, or nego- 
tiate loans. From the stone steps of the Post Office to the 
Old State House the crowd extends ; and even a strange 
eye may soon detect the shrewd curbstone broker, balancing 
himself with a tilting motion at the edge of the pavement, 
or the anxious borrower, as he eagerly claims friendship 
with those whose acquaintance he will want to disown a 
few moments later ; while in the centre a speckled cow, 
fatted pig, or evergreen tree invites the attention of those 
not otherwise engaged; while overlooking all, with a 
grave and knowing look, stands the Old State House, 
at the ^ad of State Street, having one front on Washing- 
ton Street. It retains to the present day many of the 
architectural peculiarities of the period when it was built, 
especially that part looking towards the harbor. On its 
summit are signal staffs, where are displayed the flags of 
different merchants when their ships are approaching the 
city, and a modern clock decorates State Street end. 
The lower story is now converted into stores and lawyers* 
and editors' offices ; and where the General Court of the 
Province of Massachusetts used to be holden, gentlemen 
are suited with legal measures, or are measured for panta- 



20 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



loons — lawyers and tailors pursuing their several voca- 
tions beneath the Old State House roof. 

Fanning the old house with their continuous fluttering, 
(but still depending on it for support,) float the beauteous 
flags of different daily papers ; and as they curl lazily up, 
seem plainly to say, " We show the condition of the world 




abroad and at home. Not a steartier arrives but we herald 
the news." And then, as the folds roll out with an indig- 
nant flap, they seem to flirt out that the last news from 
Kansas or Washington was not to their hking ; then they 
stop, and leave us to search in the papers they severally 



THE OLD STATE HOUSE. 21 

represent for particulars ; and it is no easy job to make a 
selection, for there is the Journal, Atlas, Bee, Ledger, and 
Chronicle close at hand, and the Traveller, Transcript, 
Advertiser, Post, Herald, and I know not how many 
others, whose shadows do not fall on the hundred-year-old 
windows of the Old State House. 



CHAPTER III. 

OLD SOUTH CHURCH. BIRTHPLACE OP FRANKLIN. 

CITY HALL. COURT HOUSE. STONE CHAPEL. 

CEMETERY. 

The Old South Church stands on Washington 
Street, not far from the Old State House. So much his- 
torical interest is attached to tliis time-honored building 
that we must be pardoned if we are rather minute in our 
notice of it, for which we are indebted to a sketch in 
Gleason's (now Ballou's) Pictorial. 

During the first of the seven years' war, a church of 
this then town of Boston of ten thousand inhabitants, that 
externally appeared much as it now does, internally pre- 
sented a strange scene. The sanctuary was profanely 
converted into a riding school for Burgoyne's cavalry. 
The pulpit and the pews, all hallowed by devotion, had 
been taken out to light the fires of our enemies, the library 
of tJie good pastor being used for kindlings. Hundreds 
of loads of dirt and gravel were carted into the church, 
that it might better answer the strange use to which it was 
put. A box was suspended four feet from the floor, over 

(23) 



24 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

which fierce horses, di-iven by furious riders, leaped. The 
galleries were occupied, not, as now, by those who freely 
heard the word of God, but by spectators of the games 
below, and by those who sold liquors and refreshments, not 
having a reverence for the sanctuary, nor the fear of the 
Maine Law before their eyes. The Old South Church, 
as every body knows, was the centre of this dissipation; a 
church that has been intimately connected with the history 
of Boston from an early period. At the time alluded to, 
Mr. Blackstone's farm was converted into the town of 
Boston, containing " about two thousand dwelling houses, 
mostly of wood, with scarce any public buildings, but 
eight or nine churches, the Old State House, and Faneuil 
Hall." The Old South Church, like the First Church, 
and the first Baptist, was organized in Charlestown by 
seceders from the First Church, who were disaflfected with 
a call extended to Rev. John Davenport. The first meet- 
ing house was erected on the spot where the present one 
stands, corner of Washington and Milk Streets. The site 
was the gift of Mrs. Norton, widow of Rev. John Norton, 
who was pastor of the First Church. The first house was 
erected soon after the church was gathered, in 1669. It 
was built of wood, with a spire and square pews. The 
first pastor was Rev. Thomas Thatcher, an eminent divine, 
a native of Salisbury, England. Besides being an emi- 
nent theologian he was a physician, and published the first 



OLD SOUTH CHURCH. 25 

medical tract that ever was issued in Massachusetts. His 
successors were Willard, the eminent divine, Pemberton, 
the eloquent pulpit orator, Sewall, who was known as 
" good Dr. Sewall," who was pastor of the church for fifty 
years, and when his health failed, near the close of his 
life, was carried into the pulpit, and instructed the people 
from Sabbath to Sabbath; Prince, the able divine and 
learned scholar, Gumming, Blair, Bacon, Hunt, Eckley, 
Huntington, the first sole pastor, the devoted Wisner, the 
gifted and short-hved Stearns, and Blagden, who now 
ministers to this ancient church — fifteen in all. 

The present Old South Church is a substantial structure 
of brick, of a style of arcliitecture that is chaste and be- 
coming, though not uncommon. It stands as it has stood 
for more than a century — it having been erected in the 
year 1730. The last sermon was preached in the old 
house March 2, 1729. The next day it was taken down, 
when it was found to be so much decayed that it was 
thought the congregation, the day before, had "a very 
gracious preservation." A curious plan of the lower floor 
of the present house is before us, under the head, " Pues 
on ye lower flore in ye Metting House," evidently drawn 
goon after the building was finished and the pews sold. 
From this plan it appears that the house is eighty-eight 
feet by sixty-one, and that it is substantially now as it was 
at the beginning. Formerlj^ there was a high elders' seat 
3 



26 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

directly in front of the pulpit, and a deacons* seat nearly 
as high. Several of the best pews in the house, accord- 
ing to the custom of the time, were devoted to the accom- 
modation of the aged — a custom that has become obso- 
lete. In this plan the names of the pew holders are 
given, embracing some of the noblest names of the time, 
such as Governor Belcher, Franklin, Bromfield, Brattle, 
"VVinslow, Cotton, EUot, &c. The following church record 
will assist the reader in understanding the disposition of 
the congregation in the new edifice. " At a meeting of 
the South Church, in their brick meeting house, August 5, 
1730, Votedy That the deacons be desired to procure some 
suitable person to take the oversight of the children and 
servants in the galleries, and take care that good order be 
maintained in time of divine worship ; and that a suffi- 
cient reward be allowed for the encouragement of such a 
person." 

The Old South Church is a noble structure, situated 
now in the very heart of the city, though, as its name indi- 
cates, at the beginning at its southern extremity. It is sur- 
mounted by one of the loftiest spires in the city. Its bell 
is large and fine toned, and more eyes are upturned to its 
clock daily, we venture to say, than to any other timekeeper 
in New England. Lideed, it is to New England, as to the 
hours, what Boston is as to business* The house is very 
capacious, and, with its two galleries, will seat, perhaps, 



OLD SOUTH CHURCH. 27 

more than any other church in the city. The pulpit is 
very high for these times, and is overshadowed by Or sound- 
ing board that makes httle children fear for the head of 
the minister. This pulpit is the second in the present 
house, the first one being what was styled a " tub " pulpit. 
The pews, though built not after the modem style, are all 
the more comfortable ; and it would seem that the owners 
never thought of the fact that the land beneath them was 
worth thirty dollars the square foot. 

Considerable interest clusters around the Old South 
Church, or " The Sanctuary of Freedom," as it has been 
termed, from the patriotic assemblages that were gathered 
within its walls just previous to the outbreak of the revo- 
lution. In this church Franklin worshipped and was bap- 
tized. Here that prince of preachers, Wliitefield, lifted 
up his voice like a trumpet. In this temple " our enemies 
in war and our friends in peace " did that which for a mo- 
ment saddens our interest. Within these walls the elec- 
tion sermons have been dehvered annually before "the 
powers that be," and multitudes have been educated for 
the church triumphant in heaven. To the Bostonian, the 
very name of the " Old South " brings back childish recol- 
lections and happy early associations. Before the city had 
so growTi as to extend almost out of town^ this was a sort 
of landmark in the designating of distances ; any given 
locality was about so far from the " Old South/' this or 



28 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

that side of the " Old South," &c. Lideed, the church is 
not only a sort of landmark as regards the bearings in our 
harbor, as considered by the pilots, but is also a point of 
departure, so to speak, on the land itself. There are few 
notable localities in the city of notions better known than 
is this venerable and revered pile, and the site it occupies 
— a silent remembrancer of scenes and events associated 
with all that is dear to Americans. 

There is a library connected with this church, that was 
bequeathed by Rev. Thomas Prince. It is a precious 
collection, containing many standard works in church his- 
tory, biblical literature, valuable pamphlets, and manu- 
scrijjts. For nearly one hundred years this has been the 
public library of that church, and accessible to any per- 
son desirous of using it for literary purposes. 

The Birthplace op Franklin was where the block 
of stores now stands that bear the inscription. On that 
sj^ot, under the very shadow of the Old Soutli's tall spire, 
the printer, the legislator, the philosopher, the immortal 
Franklin, was born. 

Passing from Washington to Tremont Street, the visitor 
will perceive on his right hand a large gray stone building, 
in front of which are grounds tastefully laid out with trees 
and beds of flowers, and enclosed by an iron fence. Tliis 
is the City Hall, It stands between Court Square and 
School Street, fronting on the latter. Here meetings of 



NEW COURT JIOLSK. ' 29 

the Council are held ; and here may be found the offices 
of the Chief-of-police and many of the civic functionaries. 




The Board of aldermen meet in the main room every 
Monday afternoon, and the sittings of the common council 
are held on Thursday evenings. 

Near the City Hall, and in its rear, is the New Court 
House. It stands in Court Square, and has a sedate, 
sober appearance, being destitute of ornament of any kind. 
Its form is that of a parallelogram, one hundred and 
seventy-six feet in length by fifty-four feet in breadth. It 
is fifty-seven feet in height, and consists of a basement and 
3* 



30 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

tliree stories. At each end is a fine portico of the Doric 
order, supported by four columns of fluted granite. There 
is not much to attract attention witliin, it being merely 
plain and substantial. An entrance hall traverses the 
entire length of the builduig, communicating with the por- 
ticos and side doors. Stone staircases, branching off from 
this corridor, lead to the various court rooms. On the first 
floor are the Justices' Courts, Court of Insolvency, and the 
offices of the clerks of the different courts. 

The Supreme Judicial Court sits for the hearing of 
legal arguments on the first Tuesday of March, and the 
term for the trial of jmy causes commences on the seventh 
Tuesday next after the fourth Tuesday of September. 
The Common Pleas Court for the county of Suffolk is 
held in the court room in the third story on the first Tues- 
day of January, April, July, and October ; and the Mu- 
nicipal Court, of which the justices of the Common Pleas 
are ex officio judges, is held in the room appropriated for 
that purpose on the first Monday of every month. The 
Pohce Court is busied every day in the trial of criminal 
offenders, and also sits every Wednesday and Saturday as 
a Justices' Court for determining civil causes under twenty 
dollars. The Social Law Library room, on the second 
floor, is a comfortable and well-hghted apartment, and 
contains a good selection of juridical text books, including 



CEMETERY. 31 

writers in general law, and the English and American 
Reports. 

In the basement are cells for the . temporary accommo- 
dation of prisoners ; and at the side door opposite the 
the Railroad Exchange may be seen every morning, about 
nine o'clock, the jail van discharging its load of prisoners 
for examination. To one fond of seeing human nature in 
all its phases, an hour in the PoHce Court any morning 
will not be thi-own away. 

Nearly opposite the City Hall stands Horticultural 
Hall, a neat stone edifice ; up stairs is the hall, which is 
lofty, large, and beautiful. It is used for horticultural, 
panoramic, and other exhibitions. 

Chapman Hall is directly in the rear, with an en- 
trance on Chapman Place. These rooms also are light 
and airy. Stone Chapel stands at the corner of School 
and Tremont Streets. It was built in 1750, and is a plain, 
substantial structure. The corner stone was laid by Gov- 
ernor Shirley. The Cemetery adjoining (from the pre- 
cious dust it holds) should be forever revered by native 
and stranger. Johnson, the " Father of Boston," as he 
has been termed, according to his wish was buried here ; 
and the people evinced their affection for him by ordering 
their bodies to be buried near him ; and this was the origin 
of the first burying-place in Boston. 

The Lady Arabella, his wife, was the pride and love 



32 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

of the colony; and historians tell us that though there 
were several other women of distinction who encountered 
the fatigues and dangers of those days with laudable reso- 
lution, the devotednees of this lady — lady in deed as well 
as name — was conspicuous above all. 

The sentiments of her heart to him are described in the 
following language : " Whithersoever your fatall destine 
shall dryve you, eyther by the furious waves of the great 
ocean, or by the many-folde and horrible dangers of the 
lande, I wyl surely not leave your company. There can 
no peryll chaunce to me so terrible, nor any kinde of 
death so cruell, that shall not be much easier for me to 
abyde than to live so farre separate from you." 

She came to the wilderness, illumined it by her love, 
her piety, her charities and faith, and died in the then 
mere village of Salem. Not one of those who had known 
her but wept bitterly at the event. It was as if all the 
flowers of the garden should hang their heads at the blast- 
ing of the rose. May her memory distil sweets upon the 
hearts of wives like her 



** And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 
May violets spring," forever. 



Many arc the good and great whose remains repose 



CEMETERY. 



33 



here ; but no character of those days has come down to us 
with brighter memories than that of Governor John Win- 
throp, whose remains also repose in the Chapel Burial 
Ground, in the family tomb, on the north side. 




WINSLOW CHADl, AT MASS. HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE BOSTON MUSEUM. HISTORICAL SOCIETT, 

Perhaps of all the places of public amusement in the 
good city of Boston, not one is so generally popular as this. 
Nor is its great success undeserved ; for it has ever been 




the aim of its enterprising proprietor, Hon. Moses Kim- 
ball, while providing every possible novelty for the gratifi- 
cation of the masses, to carefully exclude every thing that 

(35) 



6b BOSTON SIGHTS. 

could be in tlie slightest degree objectionable. Hence the 
Museum has become the great family resort, as well as 
the visitors' choicest treat. 

First, for its locality. On Tremont Street, between 
Court and School Streets, it stands, a spacious and superb 
building, its front adorned by elegant balconies and rows 
of ground glass globes, hke enormous peaids, which at 
night are luminous with gas. Thi-ee tiers of elegantly 
arched windows admit light into the building, and we 
reach the interior by a bold flight of stairs. 

At the summit of these stairs is an elegant ticket and 
treasurer's office, and adjoining it the entrance to the 
GiiAND Hall of Cabinets, which is surrounded by a 
gallery, and whose ceiling is supported by noble Corin- 
thian pillars. Around the gallery front are arranged por- 
traits of celebrated Americans. On the floor of the hall 
are statuary and superb works of art, and, arranged in 
glass cases, curiosities from all parts of the known world. 
The galleries, reached by a grand staircase, are filled with 
the rich and rare products of many a clime ; not an inch 
of space is thrown away. Ascending still higher, we find 
a superb collection of wax figures, singly and in groups ; 
and surmounting all is an observatory, whence splendid 
panoramic views of the city, the harbor, and its islands 
may be obtained. 

The Museum Theatre is one of the most beautifully 



BOSTON MUSEUM. 



37 




decorated, best constructed, and well managed theatres in 
the United States. The visitor there has no rowdyism to 
4 



38 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

fear, and nothing ever occurs, either in the audience por- 
tion or on the stage, to offend the most fastidious. As 
good order is maintained in IVIr. Kimball's theatre as in 
any drawing room in the land. The company, too, is 
always first rate. Some of our best actors have been 
trained on the Museum boards. But besides having a 
stock company which cannot be surpassed, " stars " of the 
first theatrical magnitude are often engaged ; and brilliant 
spectacles, with all the accessories of superb scenery, deli- 
cious music, gorgeous costumes, banners, and other appro- 
priate appointments, are produced several times in each 
season, in all the magnificence that money and skill can 
accomplish, and are a marked feature of the place, that 
cannot easily be surpassed. Few persons who visit Bos- 
ton ever tliink of quitting it without paying the Museum 
a visit, for it contains amusement and information for all. 

The Museum building alone cost nearly a quarter of a 
million of dollars, and covers twenty thousand feet of 
land, the whole of which, with its numerous cabinets, is 
crowded with every variety of birds, quadrupeds, fish, 
reptiles, insects, shells, minerals, fossils, &c. Then there 
is the Feejee Mermaid, alluded to by Barnum, in his 




BOSTON MUSEUM. 



39 



Autobiography, together with more than one thousand 
costly paintings, among wliich is Sully's great picture of 
Washington crossing the Delaware, portraits by Copley, 
West, Stuart, &c. In short there are to be seen nearly 
fi^'e hundred thousand articles of every conceivable rare 
and curious thing of nature and art in the Museum, and 
all for the marvellously small sum of twenty-five cents. 
The theatre is open every evening, and on Wednesday and 
Saturday afternoons. 




The rooms of the Massachusetts Historical So- 
ciety are next the Museum, in a granite building on 



40 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

Tremont Street. The library of the society contains 
about eight thousand volumes, with maps, charts, and 
four liundred and fifty volumes of manuscripts. Among 
the treasures are manuscripts of the historian Hub- 
bard, of the first Governor Winthrop, eleven volumes 
of Governor Hutchinson, of Governor Jonathan Trum- 
bull, of Connecticut, twenty-three volumes, and the manu- 
script of Washington's address to the officers of the 
American army. There is also a copy of Eliot's Indian 
Bible. The portraits of persons, mostly New England 
worthies, adorn the room ; two of special value are. Rev. 
Increase Mather and Rev. John Wilson. These rooms 
contain many relics of the past ; among these are Philip's 
samp pan, an article of Indian antiquity that perhaps 
may have been used by Massasoit himself before it be- 
came the property of his youngest son, the renowned 
sachem of Pokanoket ; and here also is Captain Church's 
sword, with which the chief was slain. The Carver 
sivord, a worthy memento of a pilgrim, speaks louder 
than words of the dangers our forefathers incurred be- 
fore a city's smoke rose from the three hills of Shaw- 
mut ; and Winslow^s chair, that tradition says " was made 
in London in 1614, and brought over in the Mayflower 
by Edward Winslow," now, after many years of haj'd 
service, is treasured as a valuable heirloom. 



CHAPTER V. 

BOSTON ATHEN^CM. — CLUB HOUSE. — COCHITUATE 
HALL. 




The magnificent building for the use of tlie Boston 
Athenjeum is situated on Beacon Street, near the State 
House. It is of Patterson freestone, and in the Palladian 
4* (il) 



42 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

Style of arcMtecture. It is one hundred and fourteen feet 
in length, of irregular breadth, sixty feet in height, and 
stands ten feet back from the street, the ground space in 
front being surrounded by a balustrade with stone coping. 
The main entrance opens into a pillared and panelled 
rotunda, from wliich fine iron staircases conduct above. 

The Sculpture Gallery is in the first story, and is 
eighty feet in length. Its entrance is immediately oppo- 
site the front door. Here is to be found a fine collection 
of works of art in marble, and casts in plaster. Among 
them are, The Head of Satan, by Horatio Greenough; 
Little Nell, by Ball Hughes ; Orpheus, by T. G. Craw- 
ford; the Shipwrecked Mother and Child, by E. A. 
Brackett ; casts of Day and Night, by Michael An- 
gelo ; the original model of the statue of the Dying 
Indian, by P. Stephenson, and the First Whisper of 
Love, by W. C. Marshall, will not fail to attract the 
attention and win the admiration of all lovers of art. 
Five marble bass reliefs from Nineveh are deposited here. 
Apart from the value which attaches to these remains, 
considered simply as antiquities, they possess a far higher 
value on account of the remarkable confirmations which 
the inscriptions afford of the truth of Scripture history. 
These in the Sculpture Gallery are of the same kind as 
those deposited in the British Museum, and described in 
Layard's works. 



BOSTON ATHEN^UM. 43 

The Reading Rooms are on the right of the vestibule. 
On the left is the Trustees' Room. Near the foot of the 
staircase stands Ball Hughes's statue of Bowditch, and a 
very fine one of Webster, by Powers. 

The Library occupies the second story, wliich is divided 
into three rooms, two in front, and one large hall (one hun- 
di-ed and nine feet by forty) in the rear. This hall is 
beautifully finished m the Itahan style. The shelvmg is 
carried to the height of eighteen or twenty feet, and the 
upper shelves are made accessible by means of a light 
ii'on gallery reached by five spiral staircases. Besides 
sixty-seven thousand bound volumes, this library pos- 
sesses twenty thousand or more of unbound pamphlets, 
between four and five hundred volumes of enji-ravinjrs, 
and the most valuable collection of coins in this part of 
the country. It also contains part of the library of Wash- 
ington — in all about four hundred and fifty bound vol- 
umes. The library is hardly surpassed, either in size or 
in value, by any other in the country ; and its regulations 
are framed with the design that it shall answer the high- 
est purposes of a public library. Strangers not residing 
within twenty miles of Boston can easily obtain admittance. 

Picture Gallery. — The third story contains four 
rooms that are appropriated to the exhibition of paint- 
ings, and of these there is an admirable collection. A 
numbered catalogue may be obtained at the door. Many 



44 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

of the paintings belong to private individuals, and are 
liable to removal ; so we shall avoid mention of them, and 
briefly touch on a few belonging to the Athenaeum. Here 
are the portraits of Washington and of Lady "Washing- 
ton, by Stuart ; the Sortie of Gibraltar, by Trumbull ; 
Judith with the Head of Holofernes ; Count of Wurtcm- 
berg lamenting his Child, by Ary Schceffer ; St. Michael 
chaining vSatan, after Guido; Flaying of Marsayas, by 
Luca Giordano; Priam receiving the Dead Body of Hec- 
tor, by Trumbull. In conclusion, we cannot help mention- 
ing Dante and Beatrice, by Ary Schqeffer, and the Course 
of Empire, by Cole. The gallery is well worthy of fre- 
quent visits, and will doubtless do much to promote the 
progress of art in Boston. 

Admittance twenty-five cents, the Sculpture Gallery 
included. 

Returning towards Washington Street, a few steps 
bring us to the Club House, corner of Beacon and 
Park Streets, a mansion interesting from the fact that it 
was fitted up for the accommodation of General Lafayette 
and his suite, when the illustrious friend of Washington 
was the guest of the city. At the period of the revolu- 
tion the almshouse stood upon this site, extending on 
B{>acon Street beyond the westerly boundary of the Athe- 
nanim estate. Next to it, on Park Street, was the work- 
house ; then came the town pound ; on the site of Park 



CLUB HOUSE. 



45 



Street Churcli stood the granary, whence the name of the 
adjacent burying ground. In the enclosure of the work- 
house yard, we beheve, the bodies of the British soldiers 
killed at Bunker Hill were laid out, in the order of tneii' 
regiments and companies, previous to interment. 

The old ahiishouse was pulled down in the year 1800, 
and in the early part of the century the large buildhig 




shown in the engraving was erected for and occupied by 
Jonathan Amory. Many a splendid ball and party have 
been given in that aristocratic mansion ; many a belle 
there devastated the hearts of young Bostonians — many 



46 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

of whom, victors and vanquished, have long since passed 
away from this earthly stage. For many years the build- 
ing has been occupied as a club house. 

CociiiTUATE Hall is not remarkable for its size, and, 
although well lighted, is difficult of access. 



CHAPTER VI. 

TREMONT TEMPLE. MEIONAON. PARK STREET CHURCH. 

GRANARY CEMETERY. NEW MUSIC HALL. MA- 
SONIC TEMPLE. 




This spacious edifice stands opposite the .Tremont 
House, Tremont Street. Of a rich and warm brown tint, 
produced by a coating of mastic, it presents a peculiarly 

(47) 



48 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

substantial and elegant frontage. It is seventy-five feet in 
height, and, with the exception of ten feet by sixty-eight, 
which is left open on the north side for hght, the building 
covers an area of thirteen thousand feet. 

Passing through the great central doorway, we find our- 
selves in the spacious entrance hall. On the first floor we 
observe on our right and left hand two ticket offices, and 
a broad flight of stairs also on either hand, each of which 
at their summit terminates in a landing, from whence to 
right and left diverge two flights of similar staircases, one 
landing you in the centre of the main hall, and the other 
to the rear part and the gallery. 

The Main Hall is a magnificent apartment. The 
utter absence of gilding and coloring on its walls renders 
it far more imposing and grand in appearance than if it 
had been elaborately ornamented with auriferous and 
chromatic splendors. It is one hundred and twenty-four 
feet long, seventy-two feet wide, and fifty feet high. 
Around the sides of it runs a gallery supported on trusses, 
so that no pillars intervene between the spectators and the 
platform, to obstruct the view. The front of this gallery 
is balustraded, and by this means a very neat and uniform 
effect is secured. The side galleries project over the seats 
below about seven feet. They are fitted with rows of 
nicely-cushioned and comfortable seats, and are not so 
high as to render the ascent to them wearisome in the 



TREMONT TEMPLE. 49 

least degree. The front gallery, though it projects into 
the hall only ten feet, extends back far enough to give it 
more than tliree times that depth. 

Directly opposite this gallery is the platform, with its 
gracefully-panelled, semicircular front. This platform, 
covered with a neat oil cloth, communicates with the side 
galleries by a few steps, for the convenience of large 
choirs. There are also several avenues of communication 
from the platform to the apartments, dressing rooms, &c., 
behind, which are exceedingly convenient, and are far 
superior to the places of exit and entrance from and to 
any other place of the kind that we have ever seen. 

From the front of the platform the floor of the hall 
gradually rises so as to afford every person in the hall a 
full and unobstructed view of the speakers or vocalists, as 
the case may be. The seats in the galleries rise in like 
manner. The seats on the hall floor are admirably 
arranged in a semicircular form from the front of the 
platform, so that every face is directed towards the 
speaker or singer. They are each one numbered, have 
iron ends, are capped with mahogany, and are completely 
cushioned with a drab-colored material. Each slip is 
capable of containing ten or twelve persons, with an aisle 
at each extremity, and open from end to end. 

The side walls of the hall are very beautifully orna- 
mented in panels, arched and decorated with circular 
5 



50 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

ornaments, which would be difficult properly to describe 
without the aid of accompanying drawings ; but as views 
of the interior of the Temple will soon be common enough, 
the omission here wiU be of little consequence. As we 
intimated, there is no fancy colormg; it is a decorated 
and relieved surface of dead white, and the effect, lighted 
as it is from above by large panes of rough plate glass, is 
beautifully chaste. The only color observable in the hall 
is the purple screen behind the diamond open work at the 
back of the platform, and which forms a screen in front 
of the organ. 

The ceihng is very finely designed in squares, at the 
intersections of which are twenty-eight gas burners, with 
strong reflectors, and a chandelier over the orchestra, 
shedding a mellow but ample light over the hall. By 
this arrangement the air heated by innumerable jets of 
gas is got rid of, and the lights themselves act as most 
efficient ventilators. The eyes are likewise protected 
from glare ; and should an escape of gas take place, from 
its levity it passes up through shafts to the outside, and 
does not contaminate the atmosphere below. Under the 
galleries are common burners. There are for day illumi- 
nation twelve immense plates of glass, ten feet long by 
four feet wide, placed in the ceiling, in the spring of the 
arch, and open directly to the outer light, and by sixteen 
smaller ones under the galleries. 



TEEMONT TEMPLE. 51 

The whole of the flooring of the hall, in the galleries, 
the body of it, and of the platfoi-m, consists of two layers 
of boards, with the interstices between them filled by a 
thick bed of mortar. The advantages of this in an acous- 
tical point of view must be obvious to all. Another ad- 
vantage is, that the applause made by the audience in tliis 
great hall does not disturb the people who may at the 
same time be holding a meeting in the other hall below — 
a very important consideration. 

There are eight flights of stairs leading from the floors 
of the main hall, and four from the galleries, the aggre- 
gate width of which is over fifty feet. 

The Boston Young Men's Christian Association occupy 
several beautiful rooms up one flight of stairs, which are 
admirably adapted for their present uses and occupants, 
and are rented by the Association for twelve hundred dol- 
lars per annum, though it is estimated that they are worth 
at least fifteen hundred dollars ; but the Temple is owned 
by a church who were very desirous that a religious asso- 
ciation should occupy them. The great organ, built by 
the Messrs. Hook, is one of the finest instruments ever 
constructed in this country. Its bellows is worked by 
steam. 

The Tremont Temple, besides the great hall, contains a 
lesser one, called The Meionaon, the main entrance to 
which is through the northerly passage way, opposite the 



52 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

doors of tlie Tremont House ; this avenue is about seven 
feet wide. The southerly passage way serves as an outlet 
from this lesser temple. 

Perhaps the reader, who may not have been initiated 
into the mysteries of Greek literature, may thank us for 
a definition of this strange-looking word, '' Meionaon." It 
is so called from two Greek words — melon, signifying 
less, smaller, and naon, temple — Lesser Temple. It is 
pronounced Mi-o-na-on. This lesser temple is situated 
back from the street, and directly under the great hall. 
It is seventy-two feet long by fifty-two feet wide, and 
about twenty-five and a half feet high. Not so elaborately 
adorned as its neighbor overhead, tliis hall is remarkably 
chastely and beautifully fitted up, and within its walls the 
religious society of Tremont Street Baptist Church wor- 
ship. Its walls are relieved by pilasters supporting arches. 
The seats are similarly arranged to those in the hall above, 
and are equally comfortable and commodious in all respects. 
At one end is a platform, on wliich, on Sabbath days, stands 
a beautiful little pulpit, of dark walnut, and cushioned with 
crimson velvet. At the other extremity of the hall is a 
gallery for a choir ; back of it stands a neat little organ. 
The place is beautifully adapted for sound, and competent 
judges say from tlieir own experience that it is a remarka- 
bly easy place to speak in. From the hall to the outer 
door the way is through a broad passage way covered with 



PAEK STREET CHURCH. 53 

Manilla matting let into the floor, so that little dirt can be 
brought in from the street ; and as the doors swing on 
noiseless hinges, no interruption from scuffling of feet or 
slammings can ever occur. 

The Cupola. — In making our way thither we travel 
over the ceiling of the great hall, dropping our heads as 
we pass beneath roof and rafter, to save our hat and skull, 
and beholding beneath our feet a great network of gas- 
piping connected with the burners of the hall under us. 
In long rows are square ventilators, which discharge their 
streams of vitiated air on the outside. 

The cupola forms a spacious observatory, glazed all 
round, and from every window is obtained a charming 
view, the whole forming one of the most superb pano- 
ramas that we ever witnessed. From this elevated spot 
may be seen the adjacent villages and towns, the harbor 
and its islands, the city institutions, churches, houses, and 
shipping. In short, the whole city and vicinity lies at our 
feet 

Park Street Church is situated at the corner of 
Tremont and Park Streets. The spire is remarkably 
beautiful, and the interior very spacious and striking. 
Close by lies Granary Burying Ground — a spot hal- 
lowed by the remains of many good, and brave, and beau- 
tiful as such can be. Here a mounument has been laid 
over the graves of Dr. Franklm's parents. It is an obelisk 
5* 



54 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



twenty-five feet high, formed of seven blocks of Quincy 
granite, each weighing about six tons ; and the name of 
" FrankUn " can be easily read from the street. The 
stranger often stops to gaze at the squirrels racing among 




those gray old tombstones, or to read the time-wom inscrip- 
tions of the mourned ones' virtues — virtues perhaps not 
visible during life, but " known and read of all men " when 
they have passed away. 

Nearly across the street from here is 

The New Music Hall. — Until within the last few 
years, although a musical people, the city was sadly in 



NEW MUSIC IIALL. &5 

want of a fitting place for concerts, &c. Now, however, 
we have a Music Hall of the first class, which we can 
refer to with pride as an ornament to our metropolis, and 
an index of the taste and liberality of Boston. 

There has been no attempt at display on the exterior 
of the building, it being deemed important to reserve, as 
far as practicable, for the interior the means contributed 
for the enterprise. 

The hall is one hundred and thirty feet long, seventy- 
eight feet wide, and sixty-five feet high, the proportion of 
length to width being as five to three, and of length to 
height as two to one. Two balconies extend round three 
sides of the hall. 

The ceiling, which is forty feet above the floor of the 
upper balcony, is in general section flat, and connected 
with the wall by a large cove, in which are seventeen 
semicircular windows, that light the hall by day. A row 
of gas jets, projecting from the edge of the cornice, just 
below these windows, light the hall by night. 

The floor is arranged with seats which will accommo- 
date upwards of fifteen hundred persons, and there is sufii- 
cient room in the balconies for upwards of one thousand 
more. 

The orchestral platform is raised five feet above the 
floor of the hall, and rises by a few steps to the organ. 
From each side of the orchestra to the floor of the lower 



56 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

balcony is a series of raised platforms for choristers, or 
for the audience, as may be requu-ed. The whole orches- 
tra will accommodate upwards of four hundred persons. 

The whole has been constructed with special reference 
to the science of acoustics — a consideration of the utmost 
importance in a building intended for a music hall. The 
architect, George Snell, Esq., has endeavored to combine 
in this structure the advantages which he has been able to 
discover by a careful personal examination of numerous 
music halls in Europe and America. This is of especial 
importance, as it is proposed to have one of the largest 
organs in the world placed here. 

In the matter of ventilation, the architect has had the 
assistance of the large experience, in that department, of 
Dr. Morrill Wyman, of Cambridge. Mr. Alpheus C 
Morse, a native of Boston, (a partner of Mr. Snell,) has 
also assisted in the arrangement of the decorations of the 
interior. 

The entrances are from Winter Street, Bumstead Place, 
and Bromfield Street. Ample accommodations are afford- 
ed for drawing rooms, alcoves, offices, &c. 

Masonic Temple. — This building is situated in Tre- 
mont Street, on part of the land that was formerly Wash- 
ington Gardens. The corner stone was laid October 11, 
1830, with appropriate Masonic ceremonies, by the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts. This Temple was dedicated May 



MASONIC TEMPLE. 



57 



30, 1832. It is sixty feet wide, and eighty and a half 
feet long, and fronts westwardly on Tremont Street. The 
Avails are fifty-two feet high, of stone, covered with a slated 
roof, twenty-four feet high, containing sixteen windows to 
light the attic story. The gutters are of cast iron, and 
the water trunks are of copper. The basement is of fine 




hammered granite, twelve feet high, with a belt of the 
same. The towers at the comers next Tremont Street 
are sixteen feet square, surmounted with granite battle- 
ments, and pinnacles rising ninety-five feet from the 
ground. The door and window frames are of fme ham- 



58 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

mered granite, and the main walls, from the basement to 
the roof, are of Quincy granite, disposed in courses, in 
such a manner as to present a finished appearance to the 
eye. The blocks are triangular in shape, and there is 
probably no other such building in Massachusetts. 

From the street are two flights of winding stairs in 
the towers, sufficiently spacious to admit a free entrance 
to the five stories of the building. The first story is 
occupied for miscellaneous purposes; the second by the 
spacious salesrooms of Messrs. Chickering & Sons; and 
the third, fourth, and fifth stories for Masonic purposes. 
The different Lodges meet as follows : — 

St. John's Lodge, first Monday ; St. Andrew's, second 
Thursday ; Massachusetts, third Monday ; Columbian, first 
Thursday; Mount Lebanon, second Monday; Winslow 
Lewis Lodge, second Friday ; Revere Lodge, first Tues- 
day; Germania Lodge, fourth Monday; St. Andrew's 
Chapter, first Wednesday ; St. Paul's Chapter, third Tues- 
day ; Boston Encampment, third Wednesday ; De Molay 
Encampment, fourth Wednesday; Council Royal and 
Select Masters, third Thursday; Grand Lodge, second 
Wednesday in December, March, June, and September, 
27th December, annually ; Grand Chapter, Tuesday pre- 
ceding second Wednesday of March, June, September, and 
December; Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island, annually ; Grand Lodge of Perfection, fourth 
Tuesday ; Board of Relief, first Tuesday in each month. 



f^^.A 



,^s^ 



W 



i^^^ 



-5s- - <i4^«^- 




CHAPTER VII 



THE STATE HOUSE. — HANCOCK HOUSE.' 
WORKS. 



BOSTON water- 



Long before the stranger reaches Boston, he must have 
seen, from the window of the railway-car, or the vessel's 
deck, an imposing dome, crowning the summit of the 
highest of the three hills on which the city is built. 
On a nearer approach, he will perceive that this dome 
surmounts a splendid and spacious edifice ; and this, he 
will learn, is 

. The State House. — To this place it would be well 
to pay an early visit, as from the window of the lofty 
cupola he will be enabled to take such a bird's eye . 
or panoramic view of the city, as will enable him, by 
fully comprehending its various localities, and their rela- 
tions to each other, to render his future investigations all 
the easier. In any city such a proceeding would proveX 
advantageous, but especially is it so in Boston, where \ 

(59) / 



60 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

strangers, in consequence of the crooked streets, experience 
more difficulty in ascertaining their whereabouts than 
perhaps in any other large place in the Union ; and here 
we now are. 

It were scarcely possible to conceive a more appropriate 
situation for such a building than the one occupied by the 
State House. It is erected about the centre of the city, 
on elevated ground, at the corner of Beacon and Mount 
Vernon streets. The corner-stone was laid on the Fourth 
of July, 1795, by Governor Samuel Adams, who made an 
address on the occasion, in which " he trusted that within 
its walls liberty and the rights of man would be forever 
advocated and supported." In 1798 the building was 
finished, and occupied by the Legislature. 

When the corner-stone of the New State House was to 
be laid, it was conveyed to the spot by fifteen white horses, 
there being, at that time, but fifteen States in the Union. 
Now they are more than doubled. 

The height of the capitol, to the summit of the dome, is 
one hundred and ten feet; the frontage is one hundred 
and seventy-three feet. *' It consists externally of a base- 
ment story twenty feet high, and a principal story thirty 
feet high. This, in the centre of the front, is covered with 
an attic sixty feet wide, and twenty feet high, which is 
covered with a pediment. Immediately above arises the 
dome, fifty feet in diameter, and thirty in height; the 



THE STATE HOUSE. 61 

whole terminating with an elegant circular lantern, which 
supports a pine cone. The basement story is finished in a 
plain style on the wings, with square windows. The 
centre is ninety-four feet in length, and formed of arches 
which project fourteen feet, and make a covered walk 
below, and support a colonnade of Corinthian columns of 
the same extent above. 

" The largest room is in the centre, and in the second 
story (the large space below in the basement story is 
directly under this) is the Representatives' Chamber, that 
will accommodate five hundred members, and sometimes 
they have been more numerous. The Senate Chamber is 
also in the second story, at the east end of the building, 
and is sixty feet by fifty. At the west is a large 
room for the meetings of the Governor and the Executive 
Council, with a convenient ante-chamber." 

The view from the top of the State House is very 
extensive and variegated ; perhaps nothing in the country 
is superior to it. To the east appears the bay and harbor 
of Boston, interspersed with beautiful islands ; and in the 
distance beyond the wide-extended ocean. To the north 
the eye is met by Charlestown, with its interesting and 
memorable heights, and the Navy Yard of the United 
States ; the towns of Chelsea, Maiden, and Medford, and 
other villages, and the natural forests mingling in the 
distant horizon. To the west is a fine view of the Charles 
6 



62 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

river and a bay, the ancient town of Cambridge, rendered 
venerable for the university, now above two hundred 
years old ; of the flourishing villages of Cambridgcport 
and East Cambridge (in the latter of which is a large 
glass manufacturing establishment) ; of the highly-culti- 
vated towns of Brighton, Brookline, and Newton ; and to 
the south is Roxbury, which seems to be only a continu- 
ation of Boston, and which is rapidly increasing ; Dor- 
chester, a fine, rich, agricultural town, with Milton and 
Quincy beyond, and still further south the Blue Hills, at 
the distance of eight or nine miles, which seem to bound 
the prospect. The Common, stretching in front of the 
capitol, with its numerous walks and flourishing trees, 
where "the rich and the poor meet together," and the 
humblest have the proud consciousness that they arc free, 
and, in some respects (if virtuous), on a level with the 
learned and the opulent, adds greatly to the whole scene. 
Large sums have recently been expended in additions 
to the State House, both within and without. On the 
lawns in front are two beautiful fountains. The dcsiiin 
of the enlargement was to obtain additional fire-proof room 
for the safety and security of the archives of the state ; 
a library-room sufl&ciently commodious to satisfy the 
wants of the present and future ; and additional accom- 
modations for the several departments of the government, 
including the agricultural bureau recently established. 



THE STATE HOUSE. 63 

The plan adopted comprised ante or committee rooms for 
the use of the Senate and Council, and committee rooms 
for the general use of the Legislature. The dimensions of 
the library are as follows : Length, eighty-eight feet ; width, 
thirty-seven feet ; height, thirty-six and a half feet. It is 
fitted with galleries and alcoves, which will afford abun- 
dant space for the accumulations of many future years. 
The basement and fire-proof rooms beneath the library are 
of the same dimensions as the latter, with the exception 
of the height ; and they will be sufficient to accommodate 
the agricultural department, and to afford room and 
security for the public archives. All the designs of 
the plan, so far as providing accommodations is con- 
cerned, are fully carried out in the structure, which is 
completely fire-proof, and built in the most substantial 
and massive style. The wall of the basement story is of 
" rusticated dressed granite," and the others of brick. A 
large amount of iron is used in the structure, which gives 
it an air of grandeur and solidity. 

The best time to ascend the cupola is before eleven 
o'clock, on a bright, clear day. Visitors are required to 
inscribe their names on a register. There is no fee 
demanded. 

One of the first objects that attract the attention of a 
strancrer, on enterino; the State House, is the statue of 
Washington, by Sir F. Chantrey, which is placed in the 



64 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



rotunda. This statue was purchased by private subscrip- 
tion, and was placed where it now stands in 1828. 

Like nearly all the works of the distinguished sculptor, 
in this production Chantrey has somewhat idealized his 
subject. Washington is represented in a military cloak, 
and so far all is correct enough, but the features are 
scarcely those of the Father of his Country. Nevertheless, 
as a work of art it is extremely fine, and reflects honor 
on the publio spirit of those who procured it. 




The Hancock House. — Near the capitol, on the west, 
is the mansion-house of the eminent patriot, the late John 
Hancock, now exhibiting quite an ancient appearance ; 
and on the cast, about the same distance, was, until 
recently, situated the dwelling of the late James Bow- 



HANCOCK HOUSE. 65 

doin, another patriot of tlie Revolution, a distinguished 
scholar and philosopher, and who, by his firmness, in the 
critical period of 1786, contributed most efficiently to the 
preservation of order and tranquillity in the common- 
wealth. 

The Hancock House is one of the celebrities of Boston, 
and no stranger, who feels the patriotic impulse, fails to 
pay it a visit. 

It stands in Beacon-street, very near the State House, 
and fronts the south, presenting a quaint and picturesque 
appearance, embosomed, as it is, with shrubs, evergreens, 
trees, and flowers. It is built of hewn stone, and raised 
about thirteen feet above the street, the ascent being 
through a garden. There it stands, beside its modern 
neighbors, like a venerable grandsire surrounded by his 
children's children, commanding respectful attention, and 
even admiration. The front is fifty-six feet in breadth, 
and it terminates in two lofty stories. Formerly there 
was a delightful garden behind the house, ascending grad- 
ually to the high lands in the rear. 

In the governor's time we are told that in front of the 
edifice " an hundred cows daily fed " on the Common. 

A brave place for hospitality has that house been in old 
times, when " the east wing formed a spacious hall, and 
the west wing was appropriated to domestic purposes; 
the whole embracing, with the stables, coach-houses, and 



60 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

other ofi&ces, an extent of two hundred and twenty fjct." 
There was also a glacis, in the days when Thomas Han- 
cock, the governor's father, resided there ; but garden, 
glacis, stables, and coach-houses, have made way for streets 
and houses. The interior of the house is better preserved ; 
and beneath its ancient roof reside descendants of the 
governor. It is a pity that it should ever be razed to the 
ground ; but it is to be feared that, by and by, the place 
which now knows it will know it no more. 

The Boston Water-Works. — A short walk on Beacon 
Hill brings us to an enormous structure of massive granite 
masonry, which will, if the stranger knows not its uses, 
strike him with astonishment. It is not a jail, though it 
somewhat resembles one; nor is it a warehouse, nor a 
church. It is the great Beacon Hill Reservoir, into which 
flows, from Cochituate Lake, formerly called Long Pond, 
the water which supplies the city with the pure element. 
The dimensions of this huge cistern are, on Derne-street, one 
hundred and ninety-nine feet and three inches ; on Temple- 
street, one hundred and eighty-two feet and eleven inches ; 
on Hancock-street, one hundred and ninety-one feet seven 
inches; and on the rear of Mount Vernon-street, two 
hundred and six feet and five inches. From the founda- 
tion to the summit, exclusive of railing, it is on Derne- 
fitreet sixty-six feet, and on the rear of Mount Vernon- 
Btreet forty-three feet high. 



THE BOSTON WATER-WORKS. G7 

This building is an immense basin, or reservoir. It 
rests on arches of immense strength, fourteen and three 
fourths feet span. The basin holds 2,678,961 wine gal- 
lons of water. 

Two granite tablets are placed on the north side of th, 
Beservoir, with the following inscriptions : 

BOSTON WATER-WORKS. 

BEGUN AUGUST, 1S46. WATER INTRODUCED OCTOBER, 1848 

JOSIAH QUINCY, JR., Mayoii. 

(NATHAN HALE, 
COMMISSIONERS, ^ JA.MES F. BALDWIN, 
^THOMAS B. CURTIS. 



BOSTON WATER-WORKS. 

THE RESERVOIR COMPLETED NOVEMBER, 1849. 

JOHN P. BIGELOW, Mayor. 

(W. S. WHTTWELL, East Div. 
ENGINEERS,^ E. S. CHESBROUGH, West Div. 
C'J.OHN. B. JERVIS, Consulting. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

BOSTON COMMON. — OLD ELM. — FROG POND. 




^^r:>> _ _^,^ ,^-^ .^ 15^^.. ■ 





Were we to be asked, What is the great feature of 
Boston city, we should assuredly reply, Boston Common. 

The parks of the British metropolis have not unaptly 
been termed the lungs of London. With equal appropri- 
ateness the Common of Boston may be styled the great 

(68) 



BOSTON COMMON. 69 

breatMng apparatus of Boston. In summer or in winter 
those forty-eight acres of undulating ground, green with 
grass or white with snow, constitute a favorite place of 
resort. And when the noble trees that abound there are 
thick with foliage, no more delightful promenade than 
those broad avenues beneath their interlacing boughs 
could well be imagined. 

A glance at the early history of the Common may not 
be uninteresting. 

"In 1634, commissioners were chosen to dispose of un- 
occupied lands. They were directed to leave out portions 
for new comers and the further benefits of the town. The 
Common was among the reserved portions, and became 
public property, as a training field and pasture. In 1833 
a city ordinance appeared, forbidding its use as a pasturage, 
and it has long since ceased to be a training field." 

The citizens of\ Boston have always been proud of their 
beautiful Common. Several times have attempts been 
made to encroach upon it, but public opinion in each case 
defeated the object, and it is not now probable that a single 
foot of it will be misappropriated. 

The American elm is celebrated abroad for its beauty, 
and our Common has extremely beautiful groves of these 
graceful trees, whose hanging boughs form arches on high, 
which, either in summer, autumn, or winter, attract gen- 
eral admiration for their fairv-like ti'acery — Nature's own 



70 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

drapery, woven by her most fantastic hands. Time and 
storm have dealt hardly with some of them, and they 
have been felled and supplanted by others, where repair 
was impossible. The extreme hardness of the malls has 
operated injuriously upon the roots of many of them, and 
canker worms have occasionally made too free among the 
branches ; but great and judicious care and expense have 
done much to remedy these evils ; and the full foliage of 
the Common, now shading the numerous paths with the 
magnificent garniture of their verdure, affords ample 
reward for years of intelligent husbandry. 

The richness of the soil on our Common has been one 
reason why the multitude of trees which decorate it have 
been so long preserved in vigor and beauty. In the sum- 
mer season the Common presents its most lovely aspect ; 
all the malls are crowned with rich green canopies, and 
the carpet spread by Nature at man's feet is of the amplest 
and freshest verdure. The birds and squirrels frohc un- 
harmed amid the broad, ancient boughs, and the malls, 
which intersect the undulating surface of the lawn, add 
vastly to its ornate appearance. Tlie cathedral-lil^e arches 
which overtop the elm-lined malls are ever charming to 
the artistic eye ; and indeed it is a question with some 
whether they do not look as beautiful in their winter 
robes, when the network of spray-like twigs is frosted over 
with the fleece of snow, or a crystalline coating of ico 



THE GBEAT ELM. 71 

glistens with prismatic splendors in the sunlight. Truly, 
the care which has been bestowed upon the Common has 
been amply repaid. 

Two of the walks in Boston were formerly designated 
by the names Great Mall and Little Mall. The 
Great Mall borders the eastern edge of the Common, and 
the Little Mall the eastern edge of the Granary or Park 
Street burying ground. The last named was planted with 
English elms by Colonel Adino Paddock, in 1770. They 
are therefore more than eighty years old. The trees in 
the Great Mall were planted, as appears from the plans, 
between 1722 and 1729. Those that remain are therefore 
about one hundred and thirty years old. The trees on 
the Little Mall were a mixture of elms and buttonwoods. 
Mr. Paddock was a loyalist, left Boston in 1776, and set- 
tled in Nova Scotia, where his descendants still live. 

The Great Elm is one of the hons — perhaps the 
lion — of Boston Common. Still hale and strong, it 
stands about the centre of the gi'een, and is supposed, 
from various data, to be upwards of two hundred years 
old. 

In 1825 it was sixty-five feet high, the circumference at 
thirty inches from the ground being twenty-one feet eight 
inches, and the spread of branches eighty-six feet. In 
1855 it was measured, and found to be seventy-two and a 
half feet in height ; height of first branch from the ground. 



72 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



twenty-two and a half feet ; girth four feet from the ground, 
seventeen feet; average diameter of greatest spread of 
branches, one hundred and one feet. This shows tliat the 
elm has grown considerably within the last quarter of a 
century. 

But this colossal plant has more interesting features 
than its age or size, though they are great. 




SUMMER ELM. 



There was once a powder magazine near this tree, on 
the little hill at whose foot it stands. This hill, also, dur- 
ing the siege of Boston, was the site of a British fortifica- 
tion, bombarded by "Washington. 



THE GREAT ELM. 



73 



In the war of 1812 its existence was endangered by the 
encampment around it of American troops, destined to 
protect the town. It has often been exposed to injury by 
the custom of hanging and burning effigies upon its giant 
branches ; and many turbulent occasions, on Election and 
Independence days, have exposed the tree to violence. 




■WINTER ELM. 

Severe tempests have at times threatened to annihilate 
this tree; and in 1831 or 1832 a violent storm separated 
four of its large limbs, and so far detached them that they 
rested partially upon the ground. They were raised and 
bolted together ; the bolts are still \-isible, and the branches, 
7 



74 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

at the end of twenty-five years, appear to be perfectly 
united. 

For many years the interior of the trunk was rotten, 
and much of it had disappeared, from neglect ; but finally 
the spirit of improvement, which came upon the Common, 
extended to the great tree, and the edges of the aperture 
were protected, and the exterior covered by canvas. The 
parts have thus been regenerated, and the opening filled 
and obliterated. 

Notwithstanding the years that have rolled over the 
veteran colossus, it still presents an aspect of grandeur 
which will ever be the admiration of the beholder. Dr. 
"VVarren remarks, in his book upon the Great Tree, — 

This tree, therefore, we must venerate as a visible 
relic of the Lidian Shawmut, for all its other native trees 
and groves have been long smce prostrated. The frail 
and transient memorials of the aborigines have vanished ; 
even the hills of Trimountain cannot be distinguished; 
and this native noble elm remains to present a substantial 
association of the existing with the former ages of Boston.'* 

A handsome iron fence now surrounds it, through which 
entrance is had by a gate. Flowers adorn the little circle 
enclosed at its foot, seeming to pay the homage of beauty 
to majesty ; and squirrels gambol among its branches, in 
which a shelter and food are provided for them. The fol- 
lowing inscription is on the fence : — 



THE GREAT ELil. 7o 

THE OLD ELM. 

This tree has been standing 
here for an unkno\^•n period. 
It is beheved to have existed be- 
fore the settlement of Boston, be- 
ing full grouTi in 1722. Exhibited 
marks of old age in 1792, and was 
nearly destroyed by a storm in 
1832. Protected by an iron 
fence in 1^54. J. Y. C. 
Smith, Mayor. 

The following lines, dedicated to the old Elm Tree on 
Boston Common, by Geo. E. Rice, originally appeared in 
the Saturday Evening Gazette. 

TO THE GREAT ELM TREE ON BOSTON COMMON. 

When first from mother Earth yon sprang, 
Ere Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare sung, 
Or Puritans had come among 
The savages to loose each tongue 

In psalms and prayers, 
These forty acres, more or less, 
Now gayly clothed in Nature's dress, 
Where Yankees walk, and brag, and guess, 
Was but a " howling wilderness " 

Of wolves and bears. 

Say, did you start with the presenti- 
Ment that you'd e'er be the centre 
Of all that's kno^vu 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 

About the sciences and arts ? 
For we are men of miglity parts, 
And strangers say that Boston hearts 
"With pride are blown ; 

And fondly deem their little state 
To be "jjar excellence " the great, 

And look with pity 
And sore contempt on those who say 
That Europe boasts a town to-day 
That's not surpassed in every way 

By Boston City. 

What wondrous changes you have seen 
Since you put forth your primal green 

And tender shoot ; 
Three hundred years your life has spanned, 
Yet calm, serene, erect you stand. 
Of great renoA\-n throughout the land, 
Braced up with many an iron band. 
And showing marks of Time's hard hand 

From crown to root. 

You, when a slender sapling, saw 
The persecuted reach this shore. 

And in their turn 
Treat others as themselves were treated. 
To mete the measure that's been meted, 
And cheat if he has e'er been cheated, 

How does man yearn ! 

Of tales perchance devoid of truth, 
"With which they would, in early youth. 
My heart appall. 



THE GREAT ELM. 

Was one the gossips used to tell 
About a witch so grim and fell, 
That here was hung for raising — well, 
It wasn't Saul. 

Since you beheld the light of day, 
A race of men has passed away — 

A warlike nation, 
Who, oft with fire water plied, 
Lost all their bravery and pride. 
And yielded to the rapid stride 

Of annexation. 

Behold, a mightier race appears. 
And high a vast republic rears 

Her giant features. 
And westward steadily we drive^ 
The few poor Indians who survive, 
And barely keep the race alive — 
Degenerate creatures. 

For are we not the mighty lords 
And masters of all savage hordes, 

In our opinion ? 
And when we with inferiors deal, 
'Tis well to use the iron heel. 
And make them wince, and writhe, and feel 

Their lords' dominion. 

You heard the first rebellious hum 
Of voices, and the fife and drimi 
Of revolution, 

7* 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 

And heard the bells and welkin ring, 
When they threw off great George, their king. 
And much improved by that same thing 
Their constitution. 

And you still thrive and live to see 
The country prosperous and free, 

In spite of all 
The very sage prognostications 
Of prophets in exalted stations, 
Who could foresee the fate of nations, 

And said she'd fall. 

You've seen both the tremendous spread 
Of commerce, and of those it made 

Rich and ambitious, 
Who flaunt with parvenu's true pride, 
And in their sho^^•y coaches ride, 
With arms emblazoned on the side, 
Which any herald who descried 

Would deem flagitious. 

Majestic tree ! You've seen much worth 
From little Boston issue forth, 

And know some men 
"Who love their kind, and give their store 
To help the suffering and the poor, 
Nor drive the beggar from their door. 
Heaven bless such hearts, and give them more, 

I pray again. 

And you shall see much more beside, 
Ere to your root, old Boston's pride, 
The axe is laid. 



THE FROG POND. 



79 



And long, I trust, the time will be. 
Ere mayor and comicil sit on thee, 
And find with unanimity 
That you're decayed ; 

For you are still quite hale and stanch, 
Though here and there perhaps a branch 

Is slightly rotten ; 
And you will stand and hold your sway 
When he who pens this rhyme to-day 
Shall mingle >>-ith the common clay, 

And be fori'Otten. 




The Frog Pond, now called " CocWtuate Lake by 
super-genteel people, or, as it has been called, " Quincy 



80 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

Lake," is situated near the Old Elm Tree, w^hose roots it 
has moistened for so many years. The original form has 
long been changed, and the natural pond in which the boys 
fished for minnows and horn-pout is now supplied from 
Cochituate Lake ; and in one portion a fountain sends up 
its sparkling waters to the height of over ninety feet. A 
variety of jets are connected with it at pleasure ; and 
nothing can be more charming than the effect produced 
on a summer's evening, when bands discourse sweet 
music, and the strains blend with the sound of falhng 
waters : the effect is inexpressibly beautiful. Then is the 
time to see Boston Common and its tiny silver lake. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PUBLIC GARDEN. — PROVIDENCE DEPOT. — PUBLIC 
LIBRARY. 

The Public Garden is situated at the foot of the 
Common, and contains about twenty acres. Like its 
neighbor, all walks and beauties are open to the inspec- 
tion and enjoyment of visitors. Menageries and circuses 
often pitch their tents here, and hold forth to the great 
delight of the curious. Close by, on Pleasant Street, is 

The Providence Railroad Depot, a fine brick 
structure, and rather striking in its architecture. The 
interior arrangements are good, and unusually convenient. 
This road is forty-three miles in length, and, joined with 
the " Stonington Line," which is properly a continuation 
of it, connects Boston with Long Island Sound. The 
branch roads uniting with this are the Dedham, Stough- 
ton, Taunton, and Attleboro' roads. 

Cars leave the depot in Boston for Providence daily, 
stopping at Roxbury, which is two miles from the city, 
Jamaica Plain, three and a half miles. 

Canton, fourteen miles from Boston, is a beautifuUy- 

(81) 



82 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



diversified and picturesque town, watered by the Neponset 
River, which, with the numerous ponds in its vicinity, 
gives it an extensive water power. The raih'oad bridge 
which crosses the river at Canton is one of the finest 
pieces of masonry in the country. It is of hewn granite, 
is six hundred and twelve feet long, and elevated sixty- 




three feet above the foundation, resting on six arches, with 
a succession of arches on top. Its cost exceeded ninety 
thousand dollars. 

Sharon, seventeen and a half miles from Boston, occu- 
pies the liighest land between Boston and Providence. 



PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



83 



Its natural sceneiy is exceedingly fine. Mashapoag Pond, 
a beautiful sheet of water over a mile in length, rests upon 
a bed of iron ore. During the low stages of the water, 
the ore is extracted by machuies made for the purpose. 
Fishing and pleasure parties frequent this pond in the 
summer season. 

Mansfield is twenty-four miles, Attleboro' thirty-one 
mileS; Pawtucket thirty-nine miles, and Providence forty- 
three and a half miles from Boston. 



1^^^ ^_^^ ^^ ^^ 

.,. 'Iff ffi. 




The Public Library buildmg of the city of Boston 
is situated on Boylston Street, opposite the Common, 



S4 BOSTON SIGHTS 

(although the library itself temporarily reposes in Mason 
Street, until the new building is quite ready for its recep- 
tion.) The building was designed by Mr. Charles Kirby, 
and is eighty-two feet in front, one hundred and twenty- 
eight feet de«p, and two stories in height, besides the base- 
ment. The lower or basement story is situated below the 
level of the sidewalk. 

The first story of the building contains the large hall 
of entrance, which opens directly into the room for distri- 
bution, which occupies the central part of the story. It 
is intended to serve also as a conversation room. This 
room is connected with a large hall in the rear of the 
building, having a gallery and twenty alcoves, calculated 
to contain about forty thou^ nd of the books most fre- 
quently demanded for use. On the front of the building, 
and entered only from the room of delivery, are two read- 
ing rooms, one on the east for ladies, and one on the west, 
amply supplied with the periodicals of the day, for gen- 
eral use. 

The second or principal story is one hall, approached 
by visitors only by the staircase in the entrance halL 
This hall, which by calculation will contain more than two 
hundred thousand volumes, has ten alcoves on each of its 
sides, and the same number in each of its galleries, mak* 
ing sixty alcoves in all. Each alcove contains ten ranges 
of shelves, and each range ten shelves. The object of 



PUBLIC LIBRARY. 85 

this decimal arrangement of shelves is to simplify all the 
details connected with the library. 

Beneath the principal story, and immediately over the 
delivery room, is a half story, designed for workrooms 
and storerooms. At the corners on the rear of the build- 
ing are towers for stairs and other conveniences. 

The building is constructed of brick, and the ornamen- 
tal portions are of sandstone. The whole building is 
strictly fire-proof; even the floors are constructed of brick 
and iron, and no wood enters into their construction. The 
comer stone was laid with great ceremony on the 17th of 
September, 1855. The library contains thirty-three thou- 
sand volumes, and is free to all of good reputation residing 

in the city. 

8 



CHAPTER X. 

WORCESTER DEPOT AND ROAD. OLD COLONY AND 

FALL RIVER DEPOT AND ROAD. 

Leaving the PubKc Library, a stroll through Boylston 
Street, (passing the spot where the Liberty Tree once 
grew,) down Beach Street, brings us to The Boston and 
Worcester Railroad Depot. It is a very plain 




(86) 



WORCESTER DEPOT AND ROAD. 87 

brick building, but covering a large area of ground, facing 
on Kneeland Street, with entrances and exits on Kneeland, 
Albany, and Lincoln Streets. The accommodations are 
spacious, and the arrangements so well made that the 
stranger, on his arrival, is not in danger of being pulled 
in pieces by officious hackmen, for here each has his place 
and must keep it. The vicinity of this depot presents a 
busy scene on the arrival and departure of the New York 
and Albany trains, and it is well worth the walk to wit- 
ness it. The branch roads uniting with this road are, the 
Brookline, Newton Lower Falls, and Saxonville ; the Mil- 
ford branch, from South Framingham depot to Milford ; 
the Millbury branch, from Grafton to Millbury ; and the 
Agricultural, from South Framingham to Marlboro'. 

Brighton, the first stopping place on this route, five' 
miles from Boston, is a pleasant town on the south side 
of Charles River. It is noted for its cattle market, the 
largest in New England. Monday is the market day, 
when buyers and sellers congregate in large numbers to 
traffic in live stock. This town has become the residence 
of many persons of wealth and taste, who occupy beauti- 
ful country seats, with splendid gardens attached. Win- 
ship's Garden is famed for its nursery of fine fruit trees 
and shrubbery, and for its grand display of fruits and 
flowers of every variety. It is free to visitors. 

Newton is both an agricultural and a manufacturing 



88 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

town. Its borders are washed by Charles River for sev- 
eral miles. There are two sets of falls on that river in 
this town, two miles apart, called the Upper and Lower 
Falls, on which are extensive paper mills, and other man- 
ufacturing estabhshments. There is a Theological Semi- 
nary here, established in 1825. 

Needham is now quite a manufacturing town, having 
several paper mills, a chocolate mill, a coach and car 
manufactory, and manufactories of shoes, hats, &c. It 
has also quarries of stone, which are becoming yearly 
more valuable. 

Natick, seventeen miles distant from the city, (called by 
the Indians " the place of hills,") is watered in part by 
Charles River; it contains several delightful ponds, well 
stored with fish. The southern part of Long Pond is in 
tliis town, and is seen from the cars while passing. The 
first Indian church in New England was established here 
in 1660, under the direction of the apostle EUot. 

Framingham, twenty-one miles from Boston, has the 
Sudbury River passing through its centre. Its fishing, 
fowling, and other sports make it an agreeable place of 
resort. 

Hopkinton is twenty-four miles fi-om Boston, and Graf- 
ton thirty-eight miles. The Western, Nashua, Norwich, 
and several other routes pass over this road, and through 
Worcester, to gain Boston. 



OLD COLONY DEPOT AND ROAD. 



89 



Not far from this depot stands The Old Colony 
AND Fall River Depot, at the corner of Kneeland and 
South Streets. It is a plain, substantial building of brick, 




and very convenient. This road was opened for travel 
on the 19th of November, 1845, and extends from Boston 
to Fall River, and from Braintree to Plymouth. The 
branch roads connecting with it are the South Shore, Cape 
Cod, Milton, Middleboro', and Taunton roads. 

South Boston, the first stopping place, was formerly a 
part of Dorchester, and is connected with Boston by two 
bridges, and also by the Old Colony and Fall River Rail- 
8* 



90 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

road. Dorchester, four miles from Boston, lies on Dor- 
chester Bay, in Boston harbor. It is under a high state 
of cultivation — fruits, vegetables, and flowers being raised 
here in great abundance ; and this town, in consequence of 
the facilities for reaching Boston, has become a favorite 
place of residence for many of its citizens. 

Neponset Village, five miles from Boston, situated in 
the town of Dorchester, is on the Neponset River, near 
its mouth. It has considerable trade, and the population 
is rapidly increasing. 

Quincy, eight miles from Boston, is situated on Quincy 
Bay, in Boston harbor. The village, which is built on an 
elevated plain, is remarkable for its neatness and beauty. 
The ancestral estate of the Quincy family, one of the 
most beautiful residences in New England, is in this town. 
In a church in the village, erected in 1828 at a cost of 
forty thousand dollars, is a beautiful monument to the 
memory of John Adams and his wife. This town sup- 
plies the " Quincy granite," noted for its durability and 
beauty. Immense quantities are annually quarried and 
sent to various parts of the United States. 

The first railway constructed in this country was in 
Quincy, it being a short line of four miles, completed in 
1827. It was built for the purpose of conveying granite 
quarried in the Granite Hills to vessels lying in the Ne- 
ponset River, and still remains in use. Of course horse 
power only was used. 



OLD COLONY DEPOT AND ROAD. 91 

North Braintree is ten and a half miles from Boston, 
Braintree eleven and a half, South Weymouth fifteen, 
Xorth Abington eighteen, Abington nineteen and a quar- 
ter. South Abington twenty -one, North Hanson twenty- 
three and a quarter, Hanson twenty-four and three quar- 
ters, Plympton thirty, Kingston thirty-three. 

Plymouth, the terminus of the Old Colony road, is 
thirty-seven miles from Boston, and is celebrated as being 
the landing place of the " Pilgrims," who disembarked 
here on the 2 2d of December, 1620. It is the oldest 
town in New England. Pilgrim Hall, the building most 
worthy of notice, contains a valuable painting represent- 
ing the landing of the Pilgrims from the " Mayflower." It 
is thirteen by sixteen feet, and is valued at three thousand 
dollars. The cabinet of the Pilgrim Society contains 
many valuable antiquities. From Burying Hill, in the 
rear of the town, which is elevated one hundred and sixty 
feet above the level of the sea, is a fine view of the vil- 
lage, the harbor, and shipping beyond, with the coast for 
some miles in extent. " Plymouth Eock," a deeply inter- 
esting spot to New Englanders, is near the termination of 
Leyden Street. The toAvn contains about two hundred 
ponds ; the largest, called Billington Sea, is about six 
miles in circumference. It is two miles south-west of 
the village, and contains a good supply of pickerel and 
perch. 



92 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



The National Monument to the Forefathers, a 
description of which we take from the Boston Almanac of 
1856j is to be erected here. The design comprises an 
octagonal pedestal, eighty-three feet high, upon which 
stands a figure of Faith, rising to the height of seventy 
feet above the platform of the pedestal, so that the whole 




monument will rise one hundred and fifty-three feet above 
the earth upon which it rests. Faith is represented as 
standing upon a rock, holding in her left hand an open 
Bible, while the other hand is uplifted towards heaven. 



OLD COLONY DEPOT AND ROAD. 93 

From the four smaller faces of the main pedestal project 
wmgs or buttresses, upon which are seated figures em- 
blematic of the principles upon which the Pilgi'im Fathers 
proposed to found their commonwealth. These are Moral- 
ity, Law, Education, and Freedom. The sides of the 
seats upon which they sit are decorated ^nth niches, in 
wliich are statues appropriate to the figures above. 

Upon the larger faces of the main pedestal are panels, 
which are intended to contain records of the names of the 
Pilgrims of the Mayflower, the events of the voyage, the 
prominent events in the early history of the colony, and 
the events which occurred previous to their departure from 
Delft Haven. Upon smaller panels, placed below these, 
ai'e to be inscribed events connected with the Pilgrim So- 
ciety and the erection of the monument, with an appro- 
priate dedication. Upon the faces of the wing pedestals 
are panels designed to contain alto-reliefs of the departure 
from Delft Haven, the signing of the social compact in the 
cabin of the Mayflower, the landing at Plymouth, and the 
first treaty with the Indians. 

In the main pedestal is a chamber twenty-four feet in 
diameter, and fi-om the floor of this a stone staircase leads 
to the platform upon which stands the principal figure. 

The pedestal is eighty feet in diameter at the base, and 
the sitting figures upon the wings are forty feet high in 
their position. The figures in the panels are eighteen feet 



94 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

in height. In magnitude the monument will far exceed 
any monumental structure of modern times, and will 
equal those stupendous works of the Egyptians which for 
forty centuries have awed the world by their grandeur. 
The figure of Faith will be larger than any known statue 
excepting that of the great Ramses, now overthrown, and 
the Colossus of Rhodes ; and the sitting figures are nearly 
equal in size to the two statues of Ramses in the plain of 
Luxor. The architect of the monument is Mr. Hammatt 
Billings, and it is to be erected at Plymouth under the 
auspices of the Pilgrim Association. 



CHAPTER XI. 

BOSTON THEATRE. MELODEON. BOSTON SOCIETY OF 

NATURAL HISTORY. 

Returning to Washington Street, a short walk brings 
us to the Boston Theatre, one of the finest places of 
amusement in the world, and by far the most beautiful in 
America. It is situated on Washington and Mason Streets. 
The entrance front on the former is a simple three story 
building, twenty-four feet in width, covered with mastic, 
and with no attempt at architectural display. On enter- 
ing, the visitor ascends the inclined plane of a spacious 
and elegant outer vestibule, the walls of which, hand- 
somely ornamented, support a finely-arched ceiling. Here 
we procure tickets, and enter the inner vestibule ; before 
us is a circular staircase, nine feet in width ; ascending, 
we find it conducts to the first and second circles. Enter- 
ing the auditorium, we find it to be about ninety feet in 
diameter, and circular in form, except that it slightly flat- 
tens in the direction of the stage; the depth from the 
curtain to the back of the parquet being eighty-four feet. 
The front of the stage projects into the auditorium eighteen 

(95) 



96 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



feet, and the height of the auditorium is about fifty-four 
feet. There are proscenium boxes on either side of the 
stage, handsomely draped. A space of ten or twelve feet 




from the parquet wall, and nearly parallel with the front 
of the first tier, is separated and somewhat raised from the 
middle portion of the house, the whole parquet floor, 



BOSTON THEATRE. 97 

however, being constructed in a dishing form, and varying 
several feet. Around the auditorium above are the first 
and second tiers, the gallery, and hanging in front, a little 
below the first tier or dress circle, is a light balcony con- 
taining two rows of seats. 

In the parquet and balcony there are iron-framed 
chairs, cushioned on the back, seat, and arms, and so con- 
trived that the seat rises when not in use ; and the first 
and second tiers are fiimished with oaken-framed sofas, 
covered with crimson plush, and the amphitheatre with 
iron-framed and cushioned settees. The walls of the 
auditorium are of a rose tint; the fronts of the balcony 
and the second circle are elaborately and tastefully or- 
namented, and the frescoed ceiling embraces in its de- 
sign allegorical representations of the twelve months. 
Adding to the effect of the painting, the ceiHng is deco- 
rated with composition ornaments, many of them richly 
gilded. In front, over the stage, is a splendid clock, with 
a movable dial. 

Returning to the vestibule, we turn to the right, under 
the arches, and reach the parquet lobby. Passing through 
this apartment, we reach the saloon and dressing rooms of 
this story. The parquet corridor is gained by turning 
to the left, through the arches, until we arrive at the foot 
of the grand oaken staircase, which is built of solid oak, 
and separates on a broad landing into two branches, nine 
9 



98 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



feet in width, which terminate in the dress circle lohby. 
Opposite the staircase are open arches communicating 
with the grand promenade saloon, which is forty-six feet 
long, twenty-six feet wide, and twenty-six feet high, and 




tastefully finished with ornamented walls and ceiling, and 
is elegantly furnished. The corridors to the several stories 
extend entirely round the auditorium. 

The stage side of the theatre is on Mason Street, and 
the doors and arches, breaking the sameness of the brick 
wall, comprise a passage leading to the carpenter's shop 



BOSTON THEATRE. 



99 



and steam works, a set of double doors for the introduc- 
tion of horses, carriages, &c., should such ever be required 
for the purposes of the stage, a private door for the use 
of the actors, and an audience entrance at the corner of 
the building nearest West Street. 




The stage is sixty-seven feet deep from the curtain, 
and, calculated from the extreme front, or foot lights, 
measures eighty-five feet. The curtain opening is about 
forty-eight feet in width by forty-one in height. There is 
a depth of some thirty feet below the stage, and the height 
from the stage to the fly floor is sixty-sixTeet. These dis- 



100 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

tances allow the raising and lowering of scenes without 
hinges or joints, the use of which soon injures their ap- 
pearance. There are seven rows of side scenes, or wings, 
with considerable space beyond the most remote, for per- 
spective. The stage is provided with traps, bridges, and 
all imaginable contrivances for effect, and is believed to 
unite more improvements, and to be the best arranged of 
any structure of the kind in this country. The green- 
room, on the level of the stage, is a decidedly comfortable 
looking apartment, thirty-four by eighteen feet, neatly fin- 
ished and tinted, handsomely carpeted, and furnished 
around the sides with cushioned seats, covered with dark- 
green enamelled cloth. Adjoining it is a small "star" 
dressing room, appropriately fitted, and near by is an 
apartment for the manager, also a small property room. 
Above these are the actors' dressing rooms, furnished with 
water, heating apparatus, and all necessary conveniences ; 
and still higher is the stage wardrobe room. 

On the other side of the stage there are additional 
dressing rooms ; above these a spacious property store- 
room. Below the extreme front of the stage is located 
the usual apartment for the use of the orchestra, with side 
rooms for the storage of music, instruments, &c. Farther 
back is a large dressing room for the supernumeraries, 
and two or three stories of cellars arranged for the recep- 
tion of scenes from above, and for a variety of other pur- 



SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 101 

poses. The walls separating the stage from the audito- 
rium are of brick, and considered fire-proof, while the cur- 
tain opening is provided with a safety screen of u'on net- 
work, balanced by weights, and managed with machinery 
so arranged as to be operated from either side of the cur- 
tain wall. Should any portion of the stage or its sur- 
roundings ever take fire during a performance, this curtain 
can be immediately lowered, and afford complete protec- 
tion to an audience. 

Close to the entrance on Washington Street is the Melo- 
DEON, a small, comfortable hall, used for religious, pano- 
ramic, and other exhibitions. 

The rooms of the Boston Society of Natural 
History are in the brick building adjoining the Boston 
Theatre, in Mason Street. They are nine in number. 
One of them is occupied by the librarian, and each of 
the others by objects of interest in the different depart- 
ments of natural history. All who desire have free 
access to the cabinet every "Wednesday ; and strangers in 
the city, who cannot conveniently visit it on that day, can 
obtain admission at any time by application to an officer 
of the society. The main room, which is entered from 
the first floor, contains skeletons of different animals from 
all parts of the world, from that of the huge mastodon to 
the slender bones of the sprightly squirrel. In an ante- 
room ai'e cases filled with rare specimens of geology and 
9* 



102 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

mineralogy. Around the main room is a light iron bal- 
cony, giving access to the glass cases, which are likewise 
filled with things strange and wonderful from all parts of 
the known world. Here are skulls and mummies, fishes 
and serpents, fossil remains and foot marks of those huge 
animals that walked, or birds that flew, before Adam arose 
from kindred earth. Ascending to the next story, we 
enter a room nearly filled with every variety of birds, 
from the albatross to the minute humming bird, while in 
the centre are long cases filled with eggs of the different 
species, and many kinds of nests. One of the anterooms 
is filled with shells, seemingly in endless variety, while 
specimens of moss, sponges, corals, and aquatic plants 
enliven the collection with their singular beauty. Another 
anteroom is filled with fishes. In yet another room the 
various members of the serpent family are preserved. 
Here we may see the enormous boa, the fairy green snake, 
the agile black snake, the famed hooded snake of India, 
and the poisonous copper head of our own country. Here, 
also, is the fascinating rattlesnake, and such numbers of 
the creeping race that a crawling feeling comes over us, 
and we quit the room with a feeling of relief. 

Many strangers leave the city without seeing the splen- 
did cabinet of this society, and many residents are not 
even aware of its existence. But whether resident or 
stranger, the visitor will be well repaid for the expendi- 
ture of time. 



SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 103 

The library belonging to the Massachusetts Society of 
Natural History contains several thousand volumes and 
a number of valuable manuscripts. The society hold 
monthly meetings, and several of their proceedings have 
been published. The institution now owns the building 
which was formerly occupied by the Massachusetts Medi- 
cal College; but the building has been remodelled, to 
adapt it to its present purposes. The whole estate cost 
about thirty thousand dollars, which was obtained by sub- 
scription from the hberal citizens of Boston. 



\xM 



1 1::; f 



■ lis 



:|i| '" 

ii 




CHAPTER XII. 

MERCANTILE LIBRARY. — LOWELL INSTITUTE. ORD- 

WAY HALL. BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 

The Mercantile Library Association occupies the 
second floor in Mercantile Building, at the comer of Haw- 
ley and Summer Streets, the main entrance being from 
the latter. 

The Newspaper Room, which occupies the front of the 
building, facing on Summer Street, is about fifty feet 
square, and is furnished with twenty-two stands for papers, 
made in the most approved form, and handsomely finished. 
These stands are supplied with one hundred and sixty 
newspapers, comprising nearly all of the better class of 
daily papers throughout the country, and a well-selected 
list of foreign weeklies and dailies, offering the largest 
and best selection of any reading room in New England. 

Besides the facilities for gathering news, there are other 
attractions to interest visitors. Facing you, as you enter, 
hangs a fine copy of Stuart's Washington, a gift from the 
Hon. Edward Everett; and around the walls are sus- 
pended portraits of Webster, Hamilton, Vespucius, Colum- 

(105) 



106 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

bus, and some of our much-honored citizens of Boston, 
viz. : Thomas H. Perkins, Peter C. Brooks, David 
Sears, William Gray, Thomas C. Amory, and Robert 
G. Shaw. 

Prominent among the attractions and ornaments of the 
room stands the marble statue of the " Wounded Indian," 
by Peter Stephenson. This truly American work, aside 
from its excellence as a work of art, is celebrated as being 
the first statue executed in the marble of this country, and 
also as being the only piece of sculpture on exhibition at 
the World's Fair at London that was designed and com- 
pleted in the United States. 

Passing from the Reading Room, you enter the periodi- 
cal room. This room is about one third as large as the 
other, and is furnished with ten reading tables and a con- 
venient table in the centre, on which are displayed the 
periodicals. There are also cases on one side of the 
room, filled with encyclopaedias, lexicons, and other works 
of reference. 

Adjoining the Newspaper Room is a small cabinet con- 
taining the curiosities belonging to the association, as well 
as those belonging to the Marine Society. 

The library room is seventy-five feet four inches long, 
by twenty feet six inches wide. The books are arranged 
on the walls and in twenty-two alcoves extending from the 
walls on both sides, leaving a clear passage through the 



MERCANTILE LIBRARY. 107 

centre of six feet in width. The present shelving of the 
library will contain twenty-five thousand volumes. Its 
capacity may be doubled by means of a light gallery, 
accessible by an iron circular stairway. The number of 
volumes in the library at present is eighteen thousand, 
and is increasing at the rate of two thousand annually. 

By the terms of the constitution, any person engaged 
in mercantile pursuits, who is more than fourteen years of 
age, may become a member of the association by the pay- 
ment of two dollars annually. Persons not engaged in 
mercantile pursuits may become subscribers, and be enti- 
tled to all the privileges of members, except that of voting, 
by the payment of two dollars ; and ladies may become 
subscribers on the same terms. 

Mercantile Hall will accommodate about seven hundred 
persons, is centrally located, easy of access, and lighted 
from the ceiling. It is well ventilated, and furnished with 
two anterooms on each side of the rostrum. It is a pleas- 
ant, cheerful room, and remarkably well adapted by its 
construction for a lecture or concert room, and is in much 
demand for these purposes. 

The main entrance to the hall is from Summer Street, 
by a broad and independent passage way from the top of 
the staircase, which renders it unnecessary for persons to 
pass through the other rooms in order to enter the hall. 
There is another entrance from Hawley Street ; and by 



108 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

this passage ladies who come to the library for books, 
and do not wish to pass through' the reading and period- 
ical rooms, can reach the Hbrarian's desk. 

A course of lectures is delivered before the association 
each winter by talented speakers. Tickets, admitting a 
gentleman and lady, are sold only to members. The pop- 
ularity of these lectures has been so great, that, although 
delivered in the largest hall in the city, it has been found 
necessary on several occasions, within a few years, to 
establish two courses in order to accommodate all the 
applicants for tickets. 

This institution is the oldest of all the Mercantile Li- 
brary Associations in the coimtry, having been founded in 
March, 1820. Among the many institutions founded in 
this city for intellectual, moral, and social improvement, 
none are exerting a more beneficial influence, or are more 
firmly established in the confidence of the people. 

The Lowell Institute, with an entrance from Wash- 
ington Street, is the next object of interest. It was founded 
by John Lowell, Jr., Esq., for the support of regular courses 
of popular and scientific lectures. The sum bequeathed 
for this purpose amounts to about two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars. By his will he provides for the main- 
tenance and support of public lectures on natural and 
revealed religion, physics and chemistry, with their appli- 
cation to the arts, and on geology, botany, and other use- 



ORDWAY HALL. BRATTLE STREET CHURCH. 109 

ful subjects. These lectures are all free. The season for 
delivering them is from October to April, during which 
period four or five courses (of twelve lectures each) are 
usually delivered. Mr. Lowell died at Bombay in March, 
1836, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. 

Ordway Hall is situated in Province House Court. 
The building is very old ; and when Massachusetts was 
a province, the colonial governors resided here. The 
king's coat of arms, that once adorned this building, is 
still treasured in the rooms of the Massachusetts Histor- 
ical Society, and seems to have suffered more from the 
tooth of time than the stanch old building it once adorned. 
Perhaps the smoke from Lexington and Concord dimmed 
its bright colors, tarnished its gilding, and caused it to 
be laid aside forever. The walls of this old house, that 
once echoed with kings* decrees, eloquent speeches, and 
loyal toasts, now ring with the gay laugh, tender songs, 
and humorous jests of the negro minstrel. The hall, 
under the management of Mr. Ordway, has become de- 
servedly popular, as order is preserved, and all that may 
offend banished. 

Brattle Street Church stands in Brattle Square. 

The first house of worship, a wooden building, was taken 

down in May, 1772, to make room for the present one, 

which was built upon the same spot, and consecrated July 

10 



110 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



25, 1773. In the front wall, near a window, may be seen 
the veritable cannon ball shot from Washington's camp in 
Cambridge, at the time Boston was in possession of the 
British. 




CHAPTER XIII 

HOWARD ATHEN^UM. BOWDOIN SQUARE. NATIONAL 

THEATRE. LOWELL DEPOT. EASTERN RAILROAD 

DEPOT. — FITCHBURG DEPOT. COPP'S HILL. — MAINE 

DEPOT. 

The Howard Athen-eum is centrally located, and 
fronts on Howard Street, occupying the spot where once 
stood the house in which Governor Eustis died. The the- 
atre, although not large, is one of the most comfortable 
places of amusement in the city, and is deservedly popular. 
Not far from here is Bowdoin Square, surrounded by 
some of the finest buildings in Boston. On one side rise 
the lofty walls of the " princely Revere ; " on another, 
" Coolidge Block," (a splendid building of stone,) the strong 
granite walls of Bowdoin Square Church, the " United 
States Courts" which occupy the " old Parkman mansion^* 
and massive " Gore Block ; " while from the centre start 
the cars for Cambridge, Mount Auburn, &c. There are 
several objects of interest not properly in the route we 
have marked out, and perhaps it were as well to diverge 
here, although obliged to return. 

(Ill) 



112 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



The National Theatre, fronting on Traverse Street, 
is one hundred and twenty feet long by seventy-five feet 
wide, exclusive of saloons, refreshment rooms, &c., which 
are spacious and convenient. The leading architectural 
features are Doric, presenting broad pilasters with slight 
projections on the front, which support an unbroken en- 




tablature and a pediment eighteen feet high at each end. 
The roof is covered with slate and zinc, and is surmounted 
by an octagonal lantern, twelve feet in diameter and 
eighteen feet high, having a window on each of its sides. 
The structure is covered on the exterior walls with cement, 



BOSTON AND LOWELL DEPOT. 113 

in imitation of freestone, which gives a uniform and beau- 
ful appearance. 

The main ceiUng of the interior is a single arch, of 
fifty-five feet span, rising within nine feet of the ridge. 
The gallery is entirely above the level cornice of the 
building, having an arched ceiling, which rises five feet 
higher than the main ceiling, and is ventilated by a large 
round window placed in the centre of the tympanum. 
The proscenium presents an opening forty feet wide and 
tliirty-three feet high. The circle of boxes is so arranged 
that in every part of the house a full view is had of the 
stage. The pit is unusually large, and although removed 
for many years, has been reinstated, and now contains 
about five hundred seats. The National has been a very 
popular theatre, and in the hands of a good manager is 
always profitable. 

The Boston and Lowell Depot, at the foot of 
Lowell Street, is a plain brick building, with no preten- 
sions to architectural elegance. The length of the road 
proper is twenty-six miles. The branch road connecting 
is the Woburn Branch. The towns passed through on the 
road to Lowell are, — 

East Cambridge, a flourishing place, with many exten- 
sive manufactories, of which the glass works are the most 
important, 

Somerville, three miles distant. 
10* 



114 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



Medford, five miles from Boston, is at the head of navi- 
gation on the Mystic River, and noted for its ship building. 

Wobum, ten miles, has a varied and pleasing aspect, 
and contains some beautiful farms. Horn Pond, in this 




town, is a delightful sheet of water, surrounded by ever- 
greens, and is so remarkable for its rural beauties as to 
attract many visitors from a distance. 

Wilmington is fifteen miles, Billerica nineteen miles, 
Billerica Mills twenty-two miles, and Lowell twenty-six 
miles from Boston. 

The Eastern Railroad Depot, which is built of 



EASTERN IIAILROAD DEPOT. 



115 



wood, stands on Causeway Street, at the foot of Friend 
and Canal Streets. The length of the road to Ports- 
mouth is fifty -six miles, or to Portland one hundred and 




seven miles. On the way to Portsmouth the following 
towns are passed through : — 

L}Tin, nine miles distant, is noted for its shoe trade. 

Salem, sixteen miles, was formerly engaged in the East 
India trade, but has declined in commercial importance, 
most of its shipping having been removed to Boston, 
although continuing to be owned in Salem. The Museum 
of the East India Marine Society is well worth a visit, for 



116 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

which tickets of admission can be procured gratis, on ap- 
plication. It is remarkable for the variety and extent of 
its natural and artificial curiosities, collected from every 
part of the world. The road passes through a tunnel 
built under Essex and Washington Streets, and is thence 
carried over a bridge of considerable length to Beverly. 

Beverly, sixteen miles from Boston, is connected with 
Salem by a bridge across the North River fifteen hundred 
feet in length. 

Wenham is twenty-two miles, Ipswich twenty-seven 
miles, Rowley thirty-one miles, Newburyport thirty-six 
miles. The celebrated George Whitefield died in this 
town in September, 1770. Salisbury Beach is thirty- 
eight miles, Seabrook forty-two miles, Hampton forty-six 
miles, and Portsmouth fifty-six miles from Boston. The 
branch roads connecting with this road are the Saugus, 
Marblehead, South Reading, Gloucester, Essex, and Ames- 
bury branches. 

The FiTCHBURG Depot fronts on Causeway Street, at 
the corner of Haverhill Street. The building, which is 
three hundred and sixteen feet long, ninety-six feet wide, 
and two stories high, is of Fitchburg granite, and one of 
the handsomest depots in this country. Several roads 
unite with this road, and the Lexington and West Cam- 
bridge, Watertown and Marlboro', Peterboro' and Shirley 
branches; and the Worcester and Nashua, and Stony 
Brook Railroads connect at Groton Junction. 



COPP S HILL. 



117 



Charlestown, the first place reached after crossing the 
viaduct over Charles River, is built on a peninsula formed 
by the Charles and Mystic Rivers, and is connected with 
Boston by two public bx'idges, by one with Chelsea and 




Maiden, over the Mystic, and with Cambridge by a bridge 
over Charles River. 

Somerville is three miles, Waltham ten miles, Concord 
twenty miles, Groton thirty-five miles, and Fitchburg fifty 
miles from Boston. 

Copp's Hill, not far from the Fitchburg Depot, was 
formerly called Snow Hill. It came into the possession 



118 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company ; and 
when, in 1775, they were forbidden by General Gage to 
parade on the Common, they went to this, their own 
ground, and drilled in defiance of his threats. The fort, 
or battery, that was built there by the British, just before 
the battle of Bunker Hill, stood near its south-east brow, 
adjoining the burying ground. The remains of many 
eminent men repose m this little cemetery. Close by the 




entrance is the vault of the Mather family, covered by a 
plain oblong structure of brick, three feet high and about 
six feet long, upon which is laid a heavy brown stone 
slab, with a tablet of slate, bearing the followmg inscrip- 
tion : — 



BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD DEPOT. 119 

The Reverend Doctors Increase, Cotton, and Samuel Mather were 
interred in this vault. 

Increase died August 27, 1723, m. 84. 
Cotton " Feb. 13, 1727, " 65. 
Samuel " Jan. 27, 1785, " 79. 

The whole is surrounded by a neat iron railing. 







The Boston and Maine Railroad Depot fronts 
on Haymarket Square. It is a fine large brick building, 
two stories high, and is more centrally located than any 
other depot in the city. The lower part is used by the 
Company, but the large upper hall is occupied as a carpet 
wareroom by Tenny & Co. This road is seventy-four 



120 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

miles long, and reaches to Portland. The cars pass 
through Charlestown, which is distant one mile, Maiden, 
four miles, South Reading, ten miles, Reading, twelve 
miles, Wilmington, eighteen miles, Andover, twenty-three 
miles, Lawrence, twenty-six miles, North Andover, twenty- 
eight miles, Bradford, thirty-two miles, Haverhill, thirty- 
three miles, Exeter, fifty miles, Dover, sixty-eight miles, 
and Portland, one hundred and eleven miles. 

Most of the towns passed through by this road are 
large manufacturing towns, Lawrence in particular being 
a second Lowell, and bearing the name of one of Massa- 
chusetts' noblest sons, through whose influence it gamed its 
present tlii'iving position. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL. MASSACHUSETTS 

MEDICAL COLLEGE. CITY JAIL. EYE AND EAE 

INFIR3IAEY. 




Returning to Bowdoin Square, and resuming our 
route, a short walk brings us to the Massachusetts Gen- 
eral Hospital. This building is located in Allen Street. 
11 (121) 



12- 



It had originally a front of one hundi'ed and sixty-eight 
feet, with a depth of fifty-four feet, and a portico of eight 
Ionic columns ; but in the year 1846 it was enlarged, and 
now furnishes accommodations for above one hundi-ed 
patients. It is built of Chelmsford granite, the columns 
of their capitals being of the same material. In the cen- 
tre of the two principal stories are the rooms of the officers 
of the institution. Above these is the operating theatre, 
which is lighted from the dome. The wings of the build- 
ing are divided into wards and sick rooms. The staircase 
and floorings of the entries are of stone. The whole 
house is supplied with heat by air flues from furnaces, and 
with water by pipes and a forcing pump. 

The premises have been improved by the planting of 
ornamental trees and shrubs, and the extension of the 
gravel walks for' those patients whose health will admit 
of exercise in the open air. Mobile a high fence gives 
retirement to a spot that should be always still. Applica- 
tions for admission of patients must be made at the Hos- 
pital in Allen Street between nine and ten A. M. on each 
day of the week except Sunday. In urgent cases, how- 
ever, application may be made at other times. Applica- 
tions from the country may be made in writing, addressed 
to the admitting physician; and when a free bed is de- 
sired, a statement of the pecuniary circumstances of the 
patient must be made. No visitors are admitted to the 



MCLEAN ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE. 123 

hospital without a special permit from the officers or 
trustees. The patients may be visited by their friends 
daily, between twelve and one o'clock. 

The McLean Asyluji for the Insane is under the 
direction of the trustees of the Massachusetts General 
Hospital, it being a branch of that institution ; and although 
situated in Somerville, it may not be amiss to describe it 
here. It is about one mile from Boston, on a dehghtful 
emmence, and consists of an elegant house for the super- 
intendent, with a wing at each end, handsomely constructed 
of brick, for the accommodation of the inmates, and has a 
large hall fifty feet long by twenty-live feet wide and four- 
teen high. The institution is supplied with billiard tables, 
&c., for the amusement of the inmates, who here receive 
not only the care, comforts, and attention, but the luxuries 
and retirement, which they had enjoyed at home. 

The male boarders and the female boarders have apart- 
ments in buildings entirely separated, and attended solely 
by persons of their own sex. No newspapers, pamphlets, 
or books are admitted without the assent of the attendant 
physician. 

Two practitioners in physic and two in surgery are 
annually appointed by the board of trustees, to act as a 
board of consultation. Two of the board of trustees fonn 
the visiting committee for the month, and each month are 
succeeded by two others. They meet at the asylum every 



124 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

Tuesday, to act upon applications for admission and dis- 
charges. " They shall fix the rate of board so low as to 
make it as much a charitable institution as its funds will 
permit, always regarding the circumstances of the respec- 
tive boarders, and the accommodation they may receive," 
The lowest rate of board is three dollars per week. 

Near the hospital in Allen Street, and at the foot of 
of North Grove Street, stands the Massachusetts Med- 
ical College. This building will accommodate more 
than three hundred students, besides affording ample space 
for the cabinet which has been collected for medical and 
anatomical purposes, as well as for all the other objects of 
the institution. 

This institution is properly a branch of Harvard Col- 
lege ; and taking into view the amount of instruction given 
in this school, the extensive apparatus with which it is 
furnished, its connection with the numerous cases and 
operations of one of the best conducted hospitals in the 
United States, together with the generally thorough acqui- 
sitions and high respectability of its graduates, it may be 
doubted whether any seminary in the country offers the 
means of a more complete professional education than 
may be obtained in the medical school at Boston. 

The cabinet contains the " Warren anatomical cabinet,** 
(consisting of the donations of Dr. Nichols, formerly of 
London, and others, with a large number of preparations 



NEW CITY JAIL. 125 

by himself,) plaster models representing vai-ious surgical 
diseases, &c., an extensive collection of preparations in 
wax, showing various tumors and diseases of the skin, 
many beautiful magnified drawings of subjects in anatomy 
and surgery, specimens and colored engravings of medici^ 
nal plants, &c. 

By the will of Dr. Warren, his skeleton is to be pre- 
sented to this college, and the institution whose interests 
he for so many years strove to forward is to become the 
recipient of his remains. A large medical library is con- 
nected wdth the institution. 

The New City Jail is located on a street to be a 
continuation of Charles Street northerly, between it and 
Grove Street, on land reclaimed from the ocean, about 
one hundred feet north of Cambridge Street, between that 
street and the Medical College. 

The Jail consists of a centre octagonal building having 
four wings radiating from the centre. The main building 
is seventy feet square, and eighty-five feet in height. It 
is but two stories high, the lower one of which contains 
the great kitchen, scullery, bakery, and laundry. The 
upper story contains the great central guard and inspec- 
tion room. This room is seventy feet square, and con- 
tains the galleries and staircases connecting with the gal- 
leries outside of the cells in the three wings. 

The north, south, and east wings contain the cells, 
11* 



126 



BOSTON SIGHTS. 



and are constructed upon the "Auburn plan," being a 
prison within a prison. The north and south wings each 
measure eighty feet six inches in length, fifty-five feet in 
width, and fifty-six feet in height. The east wing meas- 
ures one hundred and sixty-four feet six inches in length, 
fifty-five feet in width, and fifty-six feet in height above 




the surface of the ground. The west wing measures fifty- 
five feet in width, sixty-four feet in length, and of uniform 
height with the three other wings, four stories in height, 
the lower one of which contains the family kitchen and 
scullery of the jailer. 



EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY. 127 

The exterior of the structure is entirely of Quincy 
granite, formed with split ashlar in courses, with cornices 
and other projecting portions hammered or di'essed; the 
remaining portions of the entire building, both inside and 
outside, are of brick, iron, and stone, excepting the inte- 
rior of the west wing, which is finished Math wood. 

The Eye and Ear Infirmary is situated on Charles 
Street, a short distance south of Cambridge Bridge. The 
building is of brick, and consists of a main building and 
two wings. The front of the principal building (which is 
sixty-seven feet in length and forty-four feet deep) is em- 
belhshed by stone dressings to all the windows, doors, 
cornices in the Italian style. The wings retire from the 
front eleven feet, and are perfectly pla'in. Li the base- 
ment are the kitchen, wash room, laundry, refectory 
wards, baths, store rooms, &c. In the first story in the 
main building are rooms for the matron and committee, 
and receivuig and reading rooms ; in the wings are the 
male wards, -wdth operating, apothecary, and bath rooms. 
In the second story are accommodations for the matron, 
and private female wards. The building is provided with 
a thorough system of ventilation, and the whole surrounded 
by a spacious, airy ground, shut out from the street by a 
high brick wall. This institution is intended exclusively 
for the poor, and no fees are permitted to be taken. 

In the rear of the Infirmary, and extending from the 



128 BOSTON SIGHTS. 

west end of Cambridge Street to the opposite shore in 
Cambridge, is Cambridge Bridge, seeming (from a little 
distance) like a huge cable confining Boston to the main 
land. This bridge was the second built over Chai'les 
River, and the first bridge over which a horse railroad 
left the city. To the original proprietors a toll was 
granted for seventy years from the opening of the bridge, 
which, together with the causeway, was estimated to have 
cost twenty-three thousand pounds lawful money. 



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The Ticmity of Boston presents a succession of villages 
probably not to be paralleled for beauty in the United 
States. They are generally the residence of business 
men from the city ; and a suburban residence has become 
so attractive, and the villages so stocked with comforts 
and luxuries, that many wealthy famihes who used for- 
merly to pass the winter in the city and the summer in 
the country make the latter their permanent dwelling- 
place 

THE SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

only, and the correct method of seeing them^ we propose 
to give, as it would be impossible, within our limits, and 
not to our purpose, to describe the suburban towns, which 
are all worthy of a visit. Therefore we shall merely de- 
scribe the suburban sights, and leave the visitor to dis- 
cover new beauties in each town he may visit. 

(129) 



CHAPTER XV. 

CAilBRIDGE SIGHTS. OLD FORTIFICATIONS, HARVARD 

INSTITUTE, GORE HALL, WASHINGTON HOUSE, RIEDE- 
SEL HQUSE, WASHINGTON ELM. MOUNT AUBURN. 

Taking the cars from Bowdoin Square, it takes but a 
short time to be landed in Cambridge.. At the comer of 
Inman Street stands a noble mansion, shaded bj fine trees, 
and with a noble lawn in front. Previous to the revolu- 
tion it was owned and occupied by Ralph Inman, a wealthy 
tory, who was unceremoniously dispossessed, and his fine 
house assigned as head quarters to the redoubtable General 
Putnam. The street which leads up to the side entrance 
of the house perpetuates the name of its original owner. 

The ridge of land called Dana Hill, which is approached 
by an almost imperceptible ascent, forms the natural 
boundary between the "Port" and "Old Cambridge.*' 
On the summit of this ridge, on the right hand side of the 
road, was located one of the chain of redoubts erected by 
the Americans at the outset of the revolution. Traces 
of it have been visible within a very few years, but they 
are now obliterated in the march%f improvement — that 

(131) 



132 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



same spirit of progress which made it necessary to cut a 
road through another old fort, a little beyond the one just 
mentioned, on the opposite side of the way. The land 
never having been required for building purposes, this 
redoubt continued in a fine state of preservation, and its 
embankment and fosse were plainly distinguishable. 

Still following the " Main Street," it is not long before 




the turrets of Gore Hall — the library building of the 
university — come in sight, .and a side glimpse of the 
other college buildings is obtained through the trees. 
Gore Hall is of recent construction. The outer walls 



CAMBRIDGE. 133 

of the building are of rough Quincj granite laid in regu- 
lar courses, with hammered stone buttresses, towers, pin- 
nacles, drip stones, &c. The inner walls, columns, and 
the main floor are of brick, covered with hard pine ; the 
partitions are strengthened by iron columns concealed 
within them, and the roof and galleries rest on iron rafters. 
It is in the form of a Latin cross, the extreme length of 
which externally is one hundred and forty feet, and through 
the transept eighty-one and a half feet. 

The interior contains a hall one hundred and twelve 
feet long and thirty-five feet high, with a vaulted ceiling 
supported by twenty ribbed columns. The spaces between 
the columns and side walls are divided by partitions into 
stalls or alcoves for books, above and below the gallery. 
The hbrary is divided into four departments, viz. : Public, 
Law, Theological, and Medical. It contains ninety thou- 
sand volumes. Among its curiosities are seven Greek 
manuscripts, (one a fragment of an evangelistary, proba- 
bly of the ninth century,) and several Oriental manuscripts, 
in Arabic, Persian, Hindostanee, Japanese, &c. 

Of Roman coins the library has six hundred and seventy- 
one in copper, forty-three in silver, and one in gold ; of 
ancient coins other than Roman, eight. There are over 
five hundred modern coins of all sorts, and a large number 
of medals. 

In term time the library is open on the first four secu- 
12 



134 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

lar days of the week, from nine A. M. till one P. M., and 
from two till four P. M., and on Fridays from nine A. M. 
till one P. M. ; excepting the first Friday of each terra, 
Christmas Day, the days of public Fast and Thanksgiv- 
ing, and the Fridays following them, the Fourth of July, 
and the days of public exhibitions and the Dudleian Lec- 
ture, during the exercises. Li the vacations the library is 
open every Monday from nine A. M. till one P. M. All 
persons who wish to have access to the library, or to bring 
their friends to see it, are expected to make their visits on 
the days and within the hours above named. 

University Hall is a handsome granite edifice, and 
contains the chapel, lecture rooms, &c. Besides the large 
halls occupied by the under graduates, there are Divinity 
Hall, appropriated to theological students, and Holden 
Chapel, which contains the anatomical museum, &c. A 
large observatory is furnished with one of the largest and 
finest telescopes in the world. The Legislative Gov- 
ernment is vested in a corporation, which consists of the 
president and six fellows, and a board of overseers, com- 
posed of the president, the governor and lieutenant gov- 
ernor of the state, the members of the executive council 
and the Senate, and the speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, ex qfficnSj together with thirty others, fifteen 
clergymen and fifteen laymen, elected for the purpose. 
The faculty of instruction, embracing the professional and 



CAMBRIDGE. 135 

scientific schools, consists of the president, twenty-eight 
professors, five tutors, and several teachers. The degree 
of Bachelor of Arts is confcKred at the close of a course 
of four years' study. The term of study for the divinity 
school is three yeai-s ; that of the law school, three years 
for graduates of any college, and five for students who 
have not received a classical education. There are very 
liberal funds appropriated to the support of students who 
require assistance in the prosecution of their studies. 
The law school, which enjoys a high repute, was estab- 
lished in 1817. The lectures to the medical students are 
delivered at the Massachusetts Medical College, in Boston. 
A degree of M. D. is conferred only upon those students 
who have attended the courses of lectures, and spent three 
years under the tuition of a regular physician. 

The foundation of Harvard University is one of the 
most honorable events in the history of Massachusetts. 
In 1630, six years only after the settlement of Boston, 
the General Court appropriated four hundred pounds for 
the establishment of a school or college at Cambridge, 
then called Newtown. When we consider the scantiness 
of the colonial resources, and the value of money at that 
time, the allowance appears no less than munificent. The 
colonial records mention this appropriation in the follow- 
ing terms : " The court agreed to give four hundred pounds 
towards a school or college, whereof two hundi-ed pounds 



136 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

be paid the next year, and two hundred pounds when the 
work is finished, and the next court to appoint where and 
what building." The colonists were then involved in the 
Pequod war. Savage says the sum was " equal to a year's 
rate of the whole colony." But the college owes its exist- 
ence in fact — for it is doubtful whether the legislature 
would have carried their plans beyond the establishment 
of a grammar school — to the liberahty of an EngHsh 
clergyman, the Rev. John Harvard, who died in Charles- 
town in 1638. Very little is knoT\Ti respecting this 
benefactor of learning. His birthplace, even, cannot be 
ascertained. He was, however, a man of education, hav- 
ing graduated at Cambridge University, England; and 
he preached in Newtown, afterwards Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts. Harvard left by will one half of his estate, 
about eight hundred pounds sterling, to the school which 
the legislature had established in Newtown. His bequest 
gave a vigorous impetus to the new estabhshment, and the 
General Court at once determined to erect it into a col- 
leg^e, to be called Harvard, in commemoration of its bene- 
factor ; while in honor of the classic seat of learning in 
the mother country, where so many of the colonists had 
been educated, the name of Newtown was changed to 
that of Cambridge. " It pleased God," says a contempo- 
rary writer, " to stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard (a 
godly gentleman and lover of learning then living among 



CAMBRIDGE. 137 

us) to give one half of his estate towards the erection of 
a college, and all his library." 

" When," says Edward Everett, in his address delivered 
at the erection of a monument to John Harvard, in the 
graveyard at Charlestown, September 26, 1828, " we think 
of the mighty importance, in our community, of the sys- 
tem of pubhc instruction, and regard the venerable man 
whom w^e commemorate as the first to set the example of 
contributing liberally for the endowment of places of edu- 
cation, (an example faithfully imitated in this region in 
almost every succeeding age,) ^ye cannot, as patriots, 
admit that any honor which it is in our power to pay to 
his memory is beyond his desert." 

The impulse given by John Harvard's generosity placed 
the permanence of the college out of danger. Four years 
after Harvard's death, a class graduated, whose finished 
education reflected the highest credit on their alma mater. 
The university became the pride of the colony. English 
youths were sent hither to receive their education. The 
legislature continued its guardianship and care, and aided 
it by timely donations, while private individuals, animated 
by the spirit and example of Harvard, poured their con- 
tributions and bequests into its treasury. It was richly 
endowed, and in resources, buildings, library, and profes- 
sorships it takes precedence of all other institutions of 
learning in the country. 
12* 



138 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

The annual commencement still attracts crowds, and is 
regarded with interest ; and for two centuries it was to 
Cambridge, Boston, and its environs the great event of 
the year. It gathered together all the dignitaries, all the 
learning, and all the beauty and fasliion of the land. The 
university comprises a department for under graduates 
and schools of theology, law, and medicine. A most im- 
portant addition to the educational advantages of Cam- 
bridge was the founding of the Scientific School, in 
1848, by Hon. Abbott Lawrence, with a fund of fifty 
thousand dollars, which has since been largely increased. 
In this school, young men who have not received a classi- 
cal education can be fitted for various departments of 
business, as chemists, civil engineers, navigators, &c. 

On the left, opposite Gore Hall, is seen a large, square, 
old-fashioned house, at a Httle distance from the street, 
which was built by Mr. Apthorp, who was a native of 
Boston, but received his education at the university of 
Cambridge, in England, where he took orders, and received 
the appointment of missionary to the newly-established 
church in this place. He is said to have been a very am- 
bitious man, and to have had his eye upon a bishopric, 
which he fondly hoped would be estabHshed in New Eng- 
land, having Cambridge for its centre, and himself the 
metropolitan. It must be confessed that the stately man- 
sion which was erected for his use, still styled " the Bish- 



CAMBRIDGE. 139 

op's Palace," far surpassing in pretensions the general- 
ity of houses at that day, gives some countenance to the 
traditionary report of his aristocratic predilections. But 
whatever may have been his expectations, they were 
doomed to disappointment, and his house — the same 
which, a few years after the departure of its original pro- 
prietor, received the haughty Burgoyne beneath its roof, 
not as a master, but as a discomfited prisoner of war — 
yet retains unmistakable traces of its former elegance. 

Let the stranger stroll along the old road to Watertown 
— the Brattle Street of the moderns. Leaving the ven- 
erable Brattle mansion on the left, — now cast into the 
shade by the " Brattle House," erected on a portion of its 
once elegant domain, — and passing beyond the more 
thickly settled part of the village, he will find, on each 
side of the way, spacious edifices, belonging to some for- 
mer day and generation ; extensive gardens, farms, and 
orchards, evidently of no modern date ; and trees whose 
giant forms were the growth of years gone by. "SYho 
built these stately mansions, so unlike the usual New Eng- 
land dwellings of ancient days, with their spacious lawns, 
shaded by noble elms, and adorned with shrubbery ? Who 
were the proprietors of these elegant seats, which arrest 
the attention and charm the eye of the passing traveller ? 
Who were the original occupants of these abodes of aris- 
tocratic pride and wealth, — for such they must have been, 



140 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



• — and whose voices waked the echoes in these lofty halls ? 
A race of men which has passed away forever ! They are 
gone. Their tombs are in a distant land; even their 
names have passed from remembrance ; and nought re- 
mains to tell of their sojourn here save these stately piles, 
whose walls once echoed to the sound of pipe and harp, 
and whose courts reverberated with the notes of their 
national anthem. 




"-i:^ ^^MiyCi^^^^ii' 



Prominent among these residences of the royalists of 
olden time is that of Colonel John Vassall, which became 
in July, 1775, the head quarters of General Washington; 



CAMBRIDGE. 141 

an edifice even more elegant and spacious than its fellows, 
standing in the midst of shrubbery and stately elms, a 
little distance from the street, once the highway from Har- 
vard University to Waltham. At this mansion, and at 
Winter Hill, Washington passed most of his time after 
taking command of the continental army, until the evacu- 
ation of Boston in the foUowmg spring. Its present 
owner is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, widely known 
in the world of literature as one of the most gifted men 
of the age. It is a spot worthy of the residence of an 
American bard so endowed, for the associations which 
hallow it are linked with the noblest themes that ever 
awakened the inspiration of a child of song. 

This mansion stands upon the upper of two terraces, 
which are ascended each by five stone steps. At each 
front corner of the house is a lofty elm, mere saplings 
when Washington beheld them, but now stately and patri- 
archal in appearance. Other elms, with flowers and shrub- 
bery, beautify the grounds around it ; while within, icono- 
clastic innovation has not been allowed to enter with its 
mallet and trowel, to mar the work of the ancient builder, 
and to cover with the vulgar stucco of modern art the 
carved cornices and panelled wainscots that first enriched it. 

A few rods above the residence of Professor Longfel- 
low is the house in which the Brunswick general, the 
Baron Riedesel, and his family were quartered, during 



U2 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



the stay of the captive army of Burgoyne in the vicinity 
of Boston. Upon a window pane on the north side of the 
house may be seen the undoubted autograph of the accom- 




plished Baroness Riedesel. It is an interesting memento, 
and preserved with great care. 

Near the westerly corner of the Common, upon Wash- 
ington Street, stands the Washington Elm, one of the 
ancient anakim of the primeval forest, older, probably, by 
half a century or more, than the welcome of Samoset to 
the white settlers, and is distinguished by the circumstance 
that beneath its broad shadow General Washington first 



CAMBRIDGE. 



143 



drew his sword as commander-in-chief of the continental 
army, on the morning of July 3d, 1775. Not far from 
here was the spot where public town meetings were held, 
and also the tree under which the Indian council fires 
were lighted more than two hundi-ed years ago. AYhen 




the drum was used in Cambridge, instead of the bell, to 
summon the congregation to the place of worship, or 
to give warning of a savage enemy, the sound floated 
throughout those trailing limbs, that, could they but speak, 
would take a veteran's delight in telling of the past. May 
no unkind hand mar the last tree of the native forest. 



X44 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

Though it may have stood century after century, like a 
sentinel on duty, defying the lightning and the storm, still 
let it stand, an interesting and sacred memorial of the 
past and the present, and continue to be associated, for 
many years to come, with the history of our country. 
And let the illustrious name which it bears, and which it 
derives from one of the most important events in the life 
of the father of his country, preserve it to remind the 
coming generations of his invaluable services and labors. 

Mount Auburn. — The cemetery of Mount Auburn, 
justly celebrated as the most interesting object of the kind 
in our country, is situated in Cambridge and ^aterto\\Ti, 
about four and a half miles from the city of Boston, and 
one and a quarter miles west of Harvard University. It 
includes upwards of one hundred acres of land, purchased 
at different times by the Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- 
ety, extending from the main road nearly to the banks of 
Charles Biver, A portion of the land next to the road, 
and now under cultivation, once constituted the experi- 
mental garden of the society. A long watercourse be- 
tween this tract and the interior woodland formed a nat- 
ural boundary, separating the two sections. The inner 
portion, which was set apai't for the purposes of a ceme- 
tery, is covered, throughout most of its extent, with a 
vigorous growth of forest trees, many of them of large 
size, and comprising an unusual variety of species. This 



ftjapBU!ir|g^:r- 




1. Road to Fresh Pond. 

2. Chapel. 

3. Spruce Avenue. 

4. Public Lot. 

5. Laurel Hill. 

6. Walnut Avenue. 

7. Mountain Avenue. 

8. Mount Auburn Tower. 

9. Dell Path. 

10. Pine Hill. 

11. Central Square. 

12. Cedar Hill. 

13. Harvard Hill. 

13 



14. Juniper Hill. 

15. Temple Hill. 

16. Rosemary Path. 

17. Jasmine Path. 

18. Chestnut Avenue. 

19. Poplar Avenue. 

20. Meadow Pond. 

21. Lime Avenue. 

22. Larch Avenue. 

23. Garden Pond. 

24. Forest Pond. 

25. Central Avenue. 

(145) 



146 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

tract is beautifully undulating in its surface, containing a 
number of bold eminences, steep acclivities, and deep,* 
shadowy valleys. A remarkable natural ridge, with a 
level surface, runs through the ground from south-east to 
north-west, which was for many years a favorite walk with 
the students of Harvard. The principal eminence, called 
Mount Auburn, is one hundred and twenty-five feet above 
the level of Charles River, and commands from its sum- 
mit one of the finest prospects which can be obtained in 
the environs of Boston. On one side is the city, in full 
view, connected at its extremities with Charlestown and 
Roxbury. The serpentine course of Charles River, with 
the cultivated hills and fields rising beyond it, and the 
Blue Hills of Milton in the distance, occupies another 
portion of the landscape. On the north, at a very small 
distance. Fresh Pond appears, a handsome sheet of water, 
finely diversified by its woody and irregular shores. 
Country seats and cottages, in various directions, and 
especially those on the elevated land at Watertown, add 
much to the picturesque effect of the scene. On the 
summit of this elevation a tower has been erected, (of 
sufl&cient height to be seen above the surrounding trees,) 
to subserve the triple purpose of a landmark, to identify 
the spot, and for an observatory, commanding an uninter- 
rupted view of the surrounding landscape of cities, towns, 
hills, farms, rivers, Massachusetts Bay, with its many 



MOUNT AUBURN. 147 

islands and shipping. The lantern or cupola of this 
tower is at least one hundred and eighty-five feet above 
Charles River. 

The front entrance gate from Cambridge road is a 
design from an Egyptian model, and is masterly cliiselled 
in granite, at a cost of about ten thousand dollars ; and 
the cast iron picketed fence on that whole front Hne was 
erected at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars; a 
splendid chapel was completed within its grounds in 1848, 
at a cost of about twenty -five thousand dollars. 

Strangers can receive on application to any trustee, or 
to the secretary, a permit to enter the cemetery with a 
carriage any day except Sundays and holidays ; but with- 
out a vehicle, visitors are admitted without charge. The 
following direct guide through the cemetery is taken from 
" Dearborn's Guide through Mount Auburn," a book that 
may be procured at the entrance. 

" The front line of the cemetery is east to west ; and 
Central Avenue, fronting the gate, is from the north to 
the south. From the gate, advance in front up Central 
Avenue, and on the left, on an elevated plot, is the monu- 
ment to Spurzheim, and a little farther is the metal 
bronzed statue of Bowditch, in a sitting posture; then 
turn to the west, into Chapel Avenue, and you see a 
beautiful monument erected to the memory of Dr. Sharp, 
and also a magnificent temple, appropriated to the sanctu- 



148 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

ary services of the grave ; pass on into Pine Avenue, and 
there are the Shaw and Dorr monuments ; continue Pine 
Avenue to the north-west, which leads to Green Brier and 
Yarrow Paths, and there are the monuments to Fisher, 
Haughton, Fessenden, Channing, Curtis, Turner, Bangs, 
the sculptured child of Binney, Doane, Gossler, Allen, 
with numerous other pillars and obelisks to meet the eye ; 
after this examination, turn into Heliotrope and Heath 
Paths, for sculpture of Gardner's child, monument of Wil- 
liam Appleton, and the splendid mausoleum of two fronts 
to Dr. Binney ; Armstrong, Shattuck's boy ; pass into Fir 
Avenue at the west, and view the Magoun monument of 
mother and daughter ; then turn to the south, where are 
the monuments to Torrey, Mrs. N. P. Willis, Bates, Lin- 
coln, Pickens, and many others ; pass through Fir Avenue 
to the south, crossing Spruce Avenue, curving to the 
south-east, and then turn to the right hand into Walnut 
Avenue, and at the right hand are Elder, Pilgrim, and 
Snowdrop Paths, on a north-west line, and view the ele- 
gantly carved temples of Cotting, Miles, Bush, Foss, Pen- 
niman, Shattuck, Farrar, Wolcott, Hartshorn, and others ; 
return to Walnut Avenue, and pass through it, curving to 
the south, and view the monuments to Hicks, Worcester, 
Watson, and others ; then turn to the left into Mountain 
Avenue, north-westerly, and ascend Mount Auburn's high- 
est mound, one hundred and twenty-five feet above the 



MOUNT AUBURN. 149 

River Charles, from whence Boston and the surrounding 
country may be seen ; then descend Mount Auburn on 
the south-east, through Hazel Path, curving round to the 
north, and view the Fuller monument ; then pass on to 
Harvard Hill at the north-east ; here the eye will greet 
the mausoleums to Andrews, Kirkland, Ashmun, Hoft- 
man, and officers of Harvard University, and also to some 
of the students ; descend into Rose Path, at the south- 
west, where are monuments of Scudder and Davis, encir- 
cling its base, to the eastward ; then turn to the right 
hand into Sweet Brier Path, and continue to its south-east 
termination, and there is a mausoleum to Coffin ; then 
turn to the left hand into Chestnut Avenue, and at its 
junction with Hawthorn Path is the Tremont Strangers* 
Tomb ; continue north-west through Hawthorn Path, 
which leads to Cedar Hill, where are the monuments to 
Hildreth, Appleton, and others; from thence south-west, 
round Cedar Hill, is Ivy Path, which curves to the north, 
and at the end of this branch, a little to the west, is Con- 
secration Dell, where are monuments to Stanton, Watts, 
Waterson, Leverett, Dana, &c. ; leave Consecration Dell 
at its north-west corner, and pass into Vine Path, crossing 
Moss Path by the monument to Stearns, on to Central 
Square, where are monuments to Hannah Adams, Mur- 
ray, and others ; at the north-west of Central Square is 
Poplar Avenue, curving to the east ; and there may be 
13* 



150 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

seen mementoes to "Warren Colburn, Sturgis, Choate, 
Munson, Mrs. Ellis, and others ; then turn round to the 
left into the eastern line of Willow Avenue, curving round 
into its western line, and there are obelisks or mausoleums 
to McLellan, Williams, Buckingham, Randall, Chamber- 
lain, Thayer, Tuckerman, Mrs. Gannett, Lowell, Mason, 
Howard, and others ; leaving Willow Avenue at its south- 
west corner, turn to the right through Poplar Avenue into 
Alder Path, to the north, and see a monument to Wet- 
more, Greenleaf, and others; pass into Narcissus Path 
northerly, around Forest Pond, and view the monuments 
to Story, Webster, Oxnard, Rich, Durgin, Faxon, Win- 
chester, and others ; at the north curve of Forest Pond is 
Catalpa Path, on an east line to Indian Ridge Path, where 
those to Brimmer, Bond, Seaver, Greenleaf, Patterson, 
Wadsworth, Francis, Fearing, West, To my Mary,. Stack- 
pole, and others are erected ; then return to Catalpa Path 
west, to Linden Path, near to Beach Avenue, where are 
monuments to Tappan, Thaxter, Raymond, and others; 
pass through Beach Avenue to the south, where are the 
monuments of Bigelow, Stone, Stevens, Coolidge, Putnam, 
&c. ; then turn round to the right hand into Central Ave- 
nue, where are the monuments of Harnden, Gibbs, Phelps, 
Peck, Burges, Abbe, Clary, and the sculptured watch dog 
of Perkins ; turn to the left hand into Cypress Avenue, 
where the Bible monument of Gray may be seen on 



UNITED STATES ARSENAL. 151 

Hibiscus Path, and a little south is the Coggswell monu- 
ment ; then turn to the left, easterly, and near the centre 
of Central Avenue the monuments of Hewins, Tisdale, 
Buckminster, Cleveland, Lawrence, Herwig, and others ; 
continue through Cypress Avenue, curving to the south, 
and there is the public lot, with numerous shafts and me- 
mentoes to friends, with a singular horizontal slab to the 
memory of M. W. B., and a little north-west of the pub- 
lic lot, on Eglantine Path, is the sculptured figure of 
Christ blessing little children ; a little to the east of that 
is the Ford monument. Faith wnth the Cross, and the 
Fuller monument. Return through the south part of 
Cypress Avenue, where is a monument to Samuel Story, 
Jr., on Lupine Path; then turn round to the left, into 
Cedar Avenue, leading to the north, where are monuments 
to Gridley, Hayward, Benjamin, and others ; continue to 
the right hand, through part of Cypress Avenue, to Cen- 
tral Avenue, passing the statue of Bowditch, and view the 
monument to the officers lost in the exploring expedition, 
and others, after w^hich a return to the gate on the north 
may be made direct." 

A short distance from the cemetery, in Watertown, 
is the United States Arsenal. It stands on the banks 
of the Charles River, a short distance below the village, 
contains a large amount of munitions of war, and covers 
forty acres of ground. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BUNKER HILL. — MONUMENT. NAVY YARD. STATE'S 

PRISON. — HARVARD MONUMENT. 

A Charlestown omnibus can speedily set us down 
at the foot of Bunker Hill, where the pride of Britain 
was once humbled, and her veteran sons, in promiscuous 
heaps, bit the dust. On the summit of this eminence 
stands the renowned Monument, towering to the skies, 
silently saying. Here was the bloody conflict between the 
oppressor and the oppressed; there floated the ships of 
war that vainly thundered with the engines of desolation 
against the undaunted heroes who, with pickaxe and 
shovel, upheaved the mounds that were to protect them 
from the enemy. 

Ascending one of the long flights of granite steps to 
the gravel walk that leads to the monument, we approach 
the highest spot of this everlasting hill, of everlasting 
remembrance. Though once soaked with the blood of 
the slain, it is now a beautiful and interesting resort to 
strangers and travellers. Its pleasingly verdant surface 

(153) 



154 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

regularly descends every way to a green hedge that fringes 
its base, and outside of a broad walk on its four equal 
sides is a granite and iron fence, of elegant style. 

Bunker Hill Monument rises, lofty and grand, from 
the centre of the grounds included within the breastworks 
of the old redoubt on Breed's Hill. Its sides are precisely 
parallel with those of the redoubt. It is built of Quincy 
granite, and is two hundi-ed and twenty-one feet in height. 
The foundation is composed of six courses of stone, and 
extends twelve feet below the surface of the ground and 
base of the shaft. The four sides of the foundation ex- 
tend about fifty feet horizontally. There are in the whole 
pile ninety courses of stone^ six of them below the surface 
of the ground, and eighty-four above. The foundation is 
laid in lime mortar; the other parts of the structure in 
lime mortar mixed with cinders, iron filings, and Spring- 
field hydraulic cement. The base of the obelisk is thirty 
feet square ; at the spring of the apex, fifteen feet. In- 
side of the shaft is a round, hollow cone, the outside diam- 
eter of which at the bottom is ten feet, and at the top, six 
feet. Around this inner shaft winds a spiral flight of 
stone steps, two hundred and ninety-five in number. In 
both the cone and shaft are numerous little apertures 
for the purposes of ventilation and light. The observa- 
tory or chamber at the top of the monument is seventeen 
feet in height and eleven feet in diameter. It has four 



BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 



155 



windows, one on each side, which are provided with iron 
shutters. The cap piece of the apex is a single stone, 
three feet six inches in thickness, and four feet square at 
its base. It weighs two and a half tons. 

The monument was dedicated on the 17th of June, 
1843. The president of the United States (Mr. Tyler) 
and his whole cabinet were present, and Daniel "Webster 
was the orator. 




Within the colossal obelisk is a beautiful model of Dr. 
Warren's Monument, which was removed to give place 
to the present one j and a simple marble slab now only 



156 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

marks the spot where a patriot fell, as Hon. Edward 
Everett has beautifully expressed it, "with a numerous 
band of kindred spirits — the gray-haired veteran, the 
striphng in the flower of youth — who had stood side by 
side on that dreadful day, and fell together, like the beauty 
of Israel in their high places." He was buried where he 
fell, but his ashes now repose in " Forest Hill Cemetery." 
In the top of the monument are two cannons, named 
respectively "Hancock" and "Adams," which formerly 
belonged to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- 
pany. The "Adams" was burst by them in firing a 
salute. The following is the inscription upon the two 
guns : — 

SACRED TO LIBERTY. 
This is one of four cannons which constituted the whole train of 
field artillery possessed by the British colonies of North America at the 
commencement of the war, on the 19th of April, 1775. This cannon 
and its fellow, belonging to a nimiber of citizens of Boston, were used 
in many engagements during the war. The other two, the property of 
the government of Massachusetts, were taken by the enemy. 

Though this monument was built to commemorate an 
important event and a bloody battle, it is also a most 
lofty observatory. The view from the top, for extent, 
variety, and beauty, is certainly one of the finest in the 
world, and worth a thousand miles of travel to see. Bos- 
ton, its harbor, and the beautiful country around, mottled 



GALLERY OF NEEDLEWORK TAPESTRIES. 157 

with villages, are spread out like a vast painting, and on 
every side the eye may rest upon localities of great his- 
torical interest — Cambridge, Roxbury, Chelsea, Quincy, 
Medford, Marblehead, Dorchester, and other places. In 
the far distance, on the north-west, rise the higher peaks 
of the White Mountains of New Hampshire ; and on the 
north-east the peninsula of Nahant and the more remote 
Cape Ann may be seen. Wonders which present science 
and enterprise are developing and forming are there ex- 
hibited in profusion. At one glance from this lofty obser- 
vatory may be seen several railroads and many other 
avenues connecting the city with the country ; and ships 
from almost every region of the globe dot the waters of 
the harbor. Could a tenant of the old graveyard on 
Copp's Hill, who lived a hundred years ago, when the 
village upon Tri-mountain was fitting out its little armed 
flotillas against the French in Acadia, or sending forth its 
few vessels of trade along the neighboring coasts, or occa- 
sionally to cross the Atlantic, come forth and stand beside 
us a moment, what a new and wonderful world would be 
presented to his vision ! 

The New England Gallery of Needlework 
Tapestries is situated at No. 1 Adams Street, and to 
those interested in needle painting it is well worthy of a 
visit. Those who have not seen for themselves would 
hardly believe with what perfect success the conception 
14 



158 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



of the artist is transferred to canvas by the patient accu- 
racy of the needle. We shall merely mention a few of 
the most striking paintings, (for it is hard to believe them 
aught else.) They are, Surrender of Mary, Queen of 
Scots, Defence of Queen Catharine, The Resignation of 
the Crown by Mary, Queen of Scots, Little Eva, The 
Tribute Money, The Escape of King Edward, and so 
many others that it is impossible to enumerate them in 
our contracted limits. Continuing on our way, we soon 




reach the Charlestown Navy Yard. This naval depot 
is situated on the north side of Charles River, on a point 



CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD. 159 

of land east of the centre of the city of Charlestown, ex- 
tending along the harbor from the mouth of the Charles 
to the mouth of the Mystic River. This yard was pur- 
chased by the United States, under authority of an act of 
Congress, in the year 1800. The State of Massachusetts, 
by an act of the legislature of that year, gave its assent to 
the sale, under certain restrictions. The cost of the whole 
purchase, including commissions, was about forty thousand 
dollars. On the side next the town the yard is protected 
by a wall of stone masonry, sixteen feet high; on the 
harbor side are several wharves and a dry dock ; except 
the approach to these, a sea wall is extended the whole 
harbor line. This dry dock was authorized by the nine- 
teenth Congress, commenced 10th July, 1827, and opened 
for the reception of vessels, 24:th June, 1833. It is built 
of beautifully-hammered granite, in the most workmanlike 
and substantial manner; is three hundred and forty-one 
feet long, eighty feet wide, and thirty feet deep, and cost 
about six hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The 
first vessel docked after its completion was the frigate 
Constitution. A little farther off, on their own element, 
float the old copper bottoms with two or three decks, and 
with threatening broadsides and bow and stem chasers 
ready for the work of destruction, but now passive as so 
many swans. 

There are in this yard four large ship houses, various 



160 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

mechanic shops, storehouses, dwelling houses for the offi- 
cers, and marine barracks, besides an extensive ropewalk 
of granite. This structure, the finest in the country, is an 
object worthy the attention of strangers, and will give 
some idea of the vast amount of expenditure defrayed for 
public works at this superb naval station. The principal 
building contains in the basement the engine room and 
boilers ; the second story contains the spinning machinery ; 
and the "walks," being a quarter of a mile in length, 
occupy the ground floor. 

There are, too, in the yard large quantities of timber 
and naval stores, exceeding in value two millions of dol- 
lars. More or less ships of war are at all times lying 
here in ordinary. There is a sufficient depth of water for 
the largest ships of war to lie afloat, at all times, at the 
ends of the wharves. The yard contains within the wall 
about one hundred acres, and, independent of all buildings 
and works, the site would now readily command more 
than a million of dollars. 

The visitor to the navy yard will find many objects of 
interest to claim a share of his attention ; and in every 
department of this great establishment there is a uniform 
neatness and order, which are always pleasing, and for 
which this station is inferior to none in the world. Many 
improvements have been made in it within a few years. 
Its general appearance is neat and fit ; and for all manu- 



CHARLESTOAYN STATE PRISON. 



161 



facturing purposes connected with building and equipping 
ships of war, perhaps no other yard in the Union offers 
so great facilities. 

The Charlestown State Prison is in the form of 
a cross, having four wings united to a central octagonal 
building, one for the superintendent and his family, and 
three of them for inmates. The kitchen is in the centre 




octagon building, in the first story ; the supervisor's room 
is over the kitchen ; the chapel over the supervisor's room ; 
the hospital over the chapel ; and so good is the arrange^ 
ment, that all areas, apartments, windows, walls, galleries, 
14* 



162 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

staircases, fastenings, external walls, and external yard 
walls, except the space outside, at the end of the wings, 
are under supervision from the centre. If a prisoner 
breaks out, he only breaks in ; that is, if he escapes 
from his dormitory into the area, he has still another 
wall or grating to break, while at the same time he is in 
sight. 

The buildings being of stone, the cell floors of stone or 
iron, the galleries and staircases of iron, and the doors 
and gratings of the same material, render the prison 
nearly fire-proof, while the whole building is ventilated in 
the most thorough manner, each small room, dormitory, or 
cell being provided with a ventilator, starting from the 
floor of the same, in the centre wall, and conducted, sepa- 
rate from every other, to the top of the block, where it is 
connected with a ventiduct. Both at the top and bottom 
of the room there is a slide, or register, over orifices open- 
ing into this ventilator, which are capable of being opened 
or shut. 

School rooms, privilege rooms, chapels, private rooms 
and places, comfortably large single rooms, are provided, 
in which all kinds of good instruction can be given. The 
hospital is large, light, convenient, easily accessible, well 
warmed, and well ventilated. The separate rooms are so 
located and distributed, under supervision, from the centre 
building, that a gentle knock on the inner side of the door 



HARVARD MONUMENT. 163 

of each separate lodging room can be heard by the person 
on duty in the central room for supervision and care, and 
relief be immediately procured, if seized by sickness. 

Large provision is made of floors and space for employ- 
ment, under cover, with good and sufficient light, conven- 
ience, and supervision. In many old buildings there has 
not been employment, because there was no place suitable 
for it. This difficulty has received great consideration, 
and every effiDrt has been made entirely to remove it, so 
that all the inmates of these buildings should be kept out 
of idleness, which is the mother of mischief Labor is 
favorable to order, discipline, instruction, reformation, 
health, and self-support. But there can be but httle pro- 
ductive industry without a place for it. A visit to the 
work rooms, comprising the shoe making, whip making, cab- 
inet making, stone cutting, blacksmithing, upholstering, and 
other departments, generally pleases the visitor, and calls 
forth encomiums for the stillness, order, and cleanliness 
observed. 

The Monument erected to the memory of John Har- 
vard is situated on the top of the hill in the old graveyard 
near the state prison, in Charlestown. It was erected by 
the subscriptions of the graduates of Harvard University. 
It is constructed of granite, in a solid shaft of fifteen feet 
elevation, and in the simplest style of ancient art. On 
the eastern face of the shaft the name of John Harvard 



164 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



is inscribed ; also on a marble tablet the following : " On 
the 26th of September, A. D. 1828, this stone was erected 
by the graduates of the university at Cambridge, in honor 
of its founder, who died at Charlestown on the 26th of 
September, 1638." On the western side of the shaft is an 
inscription in Latin, of the following purport : " That one 




^^^^^m^i^Sf^ 



who merits so much from our literary men should no 
longer be without a monument, however humble, the 
graduates of the University of Cambridge, New England, 
have erected this stone, nearly two hundred years after 
his death, in pious and perpetual remembrance of John 



HARVARD MONUMENT. 165 

Harvard." At the erection of this monument, the Hon. 
Edward Everett, who is considered one of the most ac- 
complished scholars educated at Harvard College, dehv- 
ered an appropriate and eloquent address. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

WOODLAWN CEMETERY. ROCK TOWER. NETHER- 
WOOD POND. CHELSEA. 



K-^a 




WooDLAWN Cemetery is about 
four miles north of Boston, and two 
miles from Chelsea. An omnibus for 
Woodlawn starts from Brattle Street, 
Boston, every fair day in summer, 
(Sundays excepted,) at two o'clock, 
(167) 



168 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

P. M. It returns from the cemetery at five o'clock, P. M., 
and is at present connected with the Chelsea omnibus. 

The best mode of reaching Woodlawn now is to cross 
over the Chelsea Bridge or Chelsea Ferry, and after con- 
tinuing in the main street for a quarter of a mile, to turn 
off to the left into Washington Avenue, which leads 
directly to the cemetery. 

By this route the visitor approaches the gate house by 
Woodlawn Avenue, which is a beautiful curve, rising reg- 
ularly for a distance of seventeen hundred feet, keeping a 
width of fifty feet, with sides well planted, and a jet or 
fountain at its lower extremity. 

The gate house is a fine Gothic building, fifty-six feet 
wide, with a high centre arch and two side arches. A 
lodge adjoins it, and the whole structure has been much 
admired for its dignity and grace. Near to it stands a 
rustic well house, embowered in roses and running vines. 

A few steps inside the gate bring the visitor to a small 
triangle, where the avenues diverge. Here stands the St. 
Bernard dog, the emblem of fidelity and affection, and by 
his side is the wonderful Ginko tree, the form and leaf of 
which demand notice. 

On the right, towards the hill, is now seen the Rock 
Tower, of which a view is presented on the following page. 
This tower is constructed of rude boulders, with a spiral 
walk ascending easily to the top. Its base is seventy- 



WOODLAWN CEMETERY 



169 



eight feet in diameter, and its altitude about thirty feet. 
From its summit are seen Lynn, Saugus, Nahant, the sea, 
bay, and other objects of interest. When covered with 
lichens, mosses, ferns, woodbines, and ivy, this ponderous 







pile will be exceedingly attractive. Eventually it is to 
gerve as the base for a high observatory of iron. 

On the left of Entrance Avenue starts off the beautiful 
Ketherwood Avenue, through which every one should 
pass, either entering or returning. Near its junction with 
Forest Glade Avenue, a few feet from the triangle, turn- 
ing to the right, are seen the receiving tombs, remarkable 
15 



170 SUBUKBAN SIGHTS. 

for their neatness and repose. Passing on towards tlie 
north, the long vista of Woodside Avenue will appear ; 
and passing through this elegant way, the approach to 
Chapel Hill is marked by a beautiful rustic arch, covered 
with wild grape vines, and surmounted by a cross bearing 
on one side the inscription, " I am the true vine," and on 
the other, " Abide in me." 

In this vicinity are many beautiful lots and monuments ; 
and near the junction of Floral and Chapel Avenues 
another specimen of the Ginko tree is seen. 

Near the entrance to Chapel Hill is the lot of John M. 
Brown, and many others in good taste, which we have not 
room to specify. 

But one of the most delightful scenes any where to be 
found is Netherwood Pond, with its fine fountains and 
beautiful arbor, and the tall trees and gentle slopes which 
surround it. The views from Elm Hill, also, are fine. 

This cemetery will furnish some of the finest drives in 
the vicinity of Boston, and is destined to occupy a high 
place among the rural beauties of the country. 

Chelsea is one of the pleasantest of our suburban 
towns, the streets being broad, and bordered with shade 
trees, well lighted by gas, and Hned with tasteful resi- 
dences. Among the public buildings in the town are the 
Naval Hospital and the United States Marine 
Hospital. The latter, now in the course of construction, 



CHELSEA. 171 

will be a noble and substantial building, affording that ac- 
commodation to patients which the present hospital estab- 
lishment is inadequate to supply. The Town House is a fine 
large building of brick. The surface of Chelsea is quite 
undulating, rising in parts to a considerable elevation. 
The most considerable of these eminences is Powder Horn 
Hill, about two miles from the ferry, from the summit of 
which magnificent views may be obtained of Boston, 
Charlestown, Bunker Hill, Medford, Lynn, Nahant, and 
Boston Harbor. Mount Bellingham is a lofty hill, com- 
manding an extensive prospect, and is already nearly cov- 
ered with elegant private residences. The attractions of 
the place are so great that numbers of gentlemen doing 
business in Boston and elsewhere make their homes in 
Chelsea. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

CONCORD. LEXINGTON. DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 

PERKINS INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND. 

Concord and Lexington may be easily reached from 
the Fitehburg depot, as Lexington is only eleven miles 
from Boston, and Concord six miles beyond. The vicinity 
of these historical places to Boston, and their accessibility 
by rail or country road, procure them large numbers of 
visitors during the pleasant months of the year. Boston 
and its environs abound in mementoes of the revolution- 
ary dead; Bunker Hill rises, a sanctified spot forever; 
the heights are not yet levelled which once bristled with 
Washington's cannon, and hastened the evacuation of the 
town by the British ; and here at Lexington and Concord 
is the soil that drank the very first blood of the martyrs 
of liberty — a soil on which the first armed resistance to 
aggression was attempted. 

Lexington is a very pretty place, and since the estab- 
lishment of the branch railroad connecting it with Boston, 
many of our citizens have availed themselves of the op- 
portunity of residing in the old historic town. Its area 

(172) 



LEXINGTON. 



173 



comprises a great variety of scenery, and the soil is not 
ungrateful for the care of the husbandman. The to^vn is 
built principally on a broad street, and in about the centre 
of it is the green on which the monument stands. It is 




built of granite, and has a marble tablet on the south iront 
of the pedestal, with the following inscription : — - 



Sacred to the Liberty and the Rights of Mankind ! ! ! The Freedom 
and Independence of America — sealed and defended with the blood of 
her sons. This Monmnent is erected by the Inhabitants of Lexington, 
under the patronage and at the expense of the Commonwealth of Mas- 
sachusetts, to the memory of their Fellow-citizens, Ensign Robert Mon- 
15* 



174 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

roe, Messrs. Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, jun., 
Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, and John Brown, of Lexington, and 
Asahel Porter, of Woburn, who fell on this Field, the first victims of 
the Sword of British Tyranny and Oppression, on the morning of the 
ever-memorable Nineteenth of April, An. Dom. 1775. The Die was 
cast ! ! ! The blood of these Martyrs in the Cause of God and their 
Country was the Cement of the Union of these States, then Colonies, 
and gave the Spring to the Spirit, Firmness, and Resolution of their 
Fellow-citizens. They rose as one man to revenge their Brethren's 
blood, and at the point of the Sword to assert and defend their native 
Rights. They nobly dared to be Free ! ! ! The contest was long, bloody, 
and affecting. Righteous Heaven approved the Solemn Appeal ; Vic- 
tory cro^vned their Arms, and the Peace, Liberty, and Independence of 
the United States of America was their glorious Reward. Built in the 
year 1799. 

Concord is a pleasant little village, and lies upon the 
Concord River, one of the chief tributaries of the Merri- 
mac, near the junction of the Assabeth and Sudbury 
Rivers. Its Indian name was Musketaquid. On account 
of the peaceable manner in which it was obtained, by 
purchase, of the aborigines, in 1635, it was named Con- 
cord. At the north end of the broad street, or common, 
is the house of Colonel Daniel Shattuck, a part of which, 
built in 1774, was used as one of the depositories of stores 
when the British invasion took place. 

The Monument at Concord stands a short distance 
from the road leading into the town, upon land given for 
the purpose by Rev. Dr. Ripley. The river runs at the 



CONCORD. 175 

foot of the mound on which it stands. It is built of 
CarUsle granite, and the following inscription is engraved 
on a marble table inserted in the eastern face of the ped- 
estal : — 




Here, 

On the 19th of April, 1775, 

was made the first forcible resistance to 

British Aggression. 

On the opposite bank stood the American 

militia, and on this spot the first of the enemy fell 

in the War of the Revolution, 

which gave Independence to these United States. 

In gratitude to God, and in the love of Freedom, 

This Monument was erected, 

A. D. 1836. 



176 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

The view is from the green shaded lane which leads 
from the highway to the monument, looking westward. 
The two trees, standing one upon each side, without the 
iron railing, were saplings at the time of the battle ; be- 
tween them was the entrance to the bridge. The monu- 
ment is reared upon a mound of earth, a few yards from 
the left bank of the river. A Httle to the left, two rough, 
uninscribed stones from the field mark the graves of the 
two British soldiers who were killed and buried upon the 
spot. 

To reach South Boston from Boston we may take an 
omnibus, and be landed in a very short time at Dorchester 
Heights, which were occupied by Washington and his troops 
on the night of March 4th, 1776, and by ten o'clock two 
forts were formed, one towards the city, and the other 
towards Castle Island. Preparations were made for an 
attack by the British, and for defence by the Americans ; 
but the weather prevented the designs of the former, and 
they embarked for New York. Few visit Boston without 
a view of the spot that once bristled with bayonets, or the 
lines of the fortifications thrown up so speedily by the 
Continentals. 

Here, also, stands the Perkins Institute for the Blind, 
It is open to the public on the afternoon of the first Sat- 
urday in each month ; but in order to prevent a crowd, 
no persons are admitted without a ticket, which may be 



PERKINS INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND. 



177 



obtained gratuitously at No. 20 Bromfield Street. A lim- 
ited number of strangers, and persons particularly inter- 
ested, may be admitted any Saturday in the forenoon by 
previously applying as above for tickets. 

The pupils hi the school are taught reading, writing, 
arithmetic, geography, history, natural philosophy, natural 




history, and physiology. They are carefully instructed in 
the theory and practice of vocal and instrumental music. 
Besides this they are taught some handicraft work by 
which they may earn their livelihood. In this institution, 
for the first time in the world's history, successful- attempts 



178 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

were made to break through the double walls in which 
bhnd deaf mutes are immured, and to teach them a sys- 
tematic language for communion with their fellow-men. 
Laura Bridgman and Oliver Caswell are living refutations 
of the legal and popular maxim that those who are born 
both deaf and blind must be necessarily idiotic. They are 
pioneers in the way out into the Hght of knowledge, which 
may be followed by many others. 

In 1844 a supplementary institution grew out of the 
parent one, for the employment in handicraft work of such 
blind men and women as could not readily find employ- 
ment at home. This establishment has been highly suc- 
cessful. A spacious and convenient workshop has been 
built at South Boston, to which the work men and women 
repair every day, and are furnished with work, and paid 
all they can earn. 

The general course and history of the Perkins Institu- 
tion has been one of remarkable success. It has always 
been under the direction of one person. It has grown 
steadily in public favor, and is the means of extended use- 
fulness. In 1832 it was an experiment; it had but six 
pupils ; it was in debt, and was regarded as a visionary 
enterprise. In 1833 it was taken under the patronage of 
the state ; it was patronized by the wealthy, and enabled 
to obtain a permanent local habitation and a name. 

The terms of admission are as follows : the children of 



PERKINS INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND. 179 

citizens of Massachusetts not absolutely wealthy, free; 
others at the rate of one hundred and sixty dollars a year, 
which covers all expenses except for clothing. Applicants 
must be under sixteen years of age. Adults are not 
received into the institution proper, but they can board in 
the neighborhood, and be taught trades in the workshop 
gratuitously. After six months they are put upon wages. 
This department is a self-supporting one, but its success 
depends upon the sale of goods at the depot. No. 20 Brom- 
field Street. Here may be found the work of the blind 
— all warranted, and put at the lowest market prices; 
nothing being asked or expected in the way of charity. 
The institution is not rich, except in the confidence of the 
pubhc and the patronage of the legislature 



CHAPTER XIX. 

NAHJkiNT. 




- " -"■'- "■VluT". - ^'-M /•>!'. " "^SeS^v 



Stranger, if you would visit one of tlie most pleasant 
and delightful watering places in the world, seat yourself 
in the cars, be landed at Lynn, take passage in one of the 
stages tliat leave almost hourly, and when deposited in 
Nahant — take your Guide's word for it — you will bless 
your stars, and thank him. Here, isolated from the noise, 

(180) 



NAHANT. 181 

and heat, and bustle of the city, you may wander by the 
hour on the rocks, and watch the liquid cliisel of the sea 
at its unwearied task upon the blue and slaty substance 
of the crags. Atom by atom they yield to the muscular 
swing of the billows, worn and polished by their frothy 
edges, — the toughest creation conquered by the softest, 
and the noise of this constant sculpture is the music of 
the world. 

The rocks are torn into such varieties of form, and the 
beaches are so hard and smooth, that all the beauty of 
wave motion and the whole gamut of ocean eloquence are 
offered here to the eye and ear. The soft swash of the 
lighter waves upon the sloping sand; the bellow of the 
breakers that are driven into the rifts and caverns where 
the sunhght never strays; the gurgle of the waters as 
they run back from out the cold chambers of darkness ; 
the dash of an irregular roller upon the rough front of 
the battlements ; the full, majestic bass of a billow that 
charges the rocks in plumed order ; the heavy thump of 
the waves upon the foundation of the rocks, waking a 
muffled moan, as from the earth's weary heart ; and all 
the splendors which the ocean offers to the eye — the 
scattering of creamy foam over the pebbly beach, and the 
dying of its whiteness into the gloomy bronze of the dark 
seaweed ; the sparkle of the frolicking froth in the sun ; 
the curl of the solemn rollers, and the bewitching green 
16 



182 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

of their crests, as they bend just before they tumble m 
music ; all the loveliness and majesty of the ocean are 
displayed around the jagged and savage-browed cliffs of 
Nahant. 

This narrow promontory, which runs out from Lynn 
Beach, is crowned with charming gardens, cottages, and 
villas, and rests like an emerald in its sparkling and fretted 
framework of brilliants. While the rocks present every 
variety of color, the cliffs are pierced by fissures, caverns, 
and grottos so numerous that the visitor stands in awe ; 
and the shell-crowned beaches of shining, silvery sand are 
so smooth and hard that they take no impress of the 
steed's hoof or the rolling wheel ; and as the mind does 
not seem capable of containing all, follow the Guide, and 
view each object separately. 

Turning to the left of Nahant Beach, over which we 
have just come, a vast fissure in the cliff, forty feet in 
depth, is seen, bearing the name of John's Peril. At 
the distance of three fourths of a mile from where we 




NAHANT. 



183 



Stand, Egg Rock rises abruptly from the sea to the height 
of eighty-six feet. Its shape is oval, and on its summit 
the gulls deposit their eggs in abundance, whence it takes 
its name. Passing the Iron Mine, (a huge black ledge,) 
we reach The Spouting Horn. Here the water, after 
being driven through a rocky tunnel one hundred feet in 
length into a deep cavern, is spouted forth in wild sheets 
of foam and spray, while the Atlantic's billows seem to 
jar the solid rocks with thundering sound, and shake the 
very crags that dare to stay their onward progress. Pass- 
ing Saunders's Ledge, we reach 




Castle Rock. The battlements, buttresses, turrets, 
and embrasures of an ancient castle are so faithfully rep- 



184 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

resented by this immense pile of rocks, that one almost 
waits for the warden's challenge or the trumpet's blast 
and expects to see the square openings (so like doors and 
windows) peopled with armed men. 

In Caldron Cliff the water boils with tremendous 
force and fury during great storms ; and in Roaring 
Cavern the sound is distinctly heard. Crossing Natu- 
ral Bridge, we may see the varying tides and jagged 
rocks full twenty feet below us, and we reach 




Pulpit Rock, a huge mass of stone nearly twenty feet 
square, and rising full thirty feet above the yeasty billows. 
The upper portion of the rock bears a striking resem- 
blance to a pile of books, with a seat opening in their 



NAHANT. 



185 



midst; but the steepness of the crag renders the ascent 
very difficult, as the road to knowledge always has been 
found to be. 




Swallows' Cave is a passage eight feet high, ten 
wide, and seventy -two feet in length, opening into the sea. 
Formerly the swallows inhabited this cave in great num- 
bers, and built their nests in the irregularities of the rocks 
above ; but the multitude of visitors has frightened them 
away. Continuing on our way, we reach 
16* 



186 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 




Irene's Grotto, a tall arch, grotesque and beautiful, 
leading to a large room in the rock, and one of the great- 
est curiosities on Nahant. Near by is the Steamboat 
"Wharf, where the trim Nelly Baker lies. It were im- 
possible to describe all objects worthy of notice; but, 
having named the most prominent, we will retire to the 
Nahant House, a sketch of which forms the vignette to 
this chapter. 

This is probably the largest hotel in America ; the car- 
peted floors cover an area of nearly four acres ; nine 
miles of wire are required to connect the bells with the 
annunciator; and the whole of this immense establish- 
ment is lighted with gas manufactured on. the premises. 
Upon the first floor are the drawing rooms, reception par- 



NAHANT. 187 

lors, offices, reading room, dining hall, and private dining 
parlors. In the basement are smoking rooms, a children's 
dining room, bathing rooms for hot baths, an immense 
laundry, and a culinary department ample enough to pro- 
vide for an army. The whole establishment — bilHard 
house, bowling alleys, shooting gallery, stables, yachts, 
&c. — has been completed under the immediate supervis- 
ion of Colonel Paran Stevens, of the Revere and Tre- 
mont Houses, associated with Mr. James E. P. Stevens, 
who have furnished it throughout with a liberal eye to 
genuine comfort, and with every convenience and elegance 
that experience can suggest or that money can purchase. 

A line of telegraph has been constructed for the accom- 
modation of guests, and arrangements are made to place 
all items of news upon the hotel bulletin, in advance even 
of appearing in the Boston papers. 

Sailing parties and chowder picnics are furnished with 
first class yachts, thoroughly manned ; and haddock, cod- 
fish, mackerel, tautog, and halibut are caught in abundance 
within a short distance of the shore ; and when, tired with 
the day's sport, we return, sweet music from the Germania 
Band soon drives dull care away, or we may seek enjoy- 
ment in the concerts, hops, and theatricals that follow 
each other in gay succession. 

Although retired from the bustle of the world, steam so 
annihilates distance that parties can leave New York or 
Saratoga after breakfast and sup at Nahant. 



188 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

We cannot better finish our description of this match- 
less watering place than by the following, from the pen of 
Alonzo Lewis, of Lynn, a gentleman well known to the 
literary world. 

" The temperature of Nahant, being moderated by sea 
breezes, so as to be cooler in summer and milder in winter 
than the main land, is regarded as being highly conducive 
to health. It is delightful in summer to ramble round 
this romantic peninsula, and to examine at leisure its in- 
teresting curiosities — to hear the waves rippling the col- 
ored pebbles of the beaches, and see them gliding over 
the projecting ledges in fanciful cascades — to behold the 
plovers and sandpipers running along the beaches, the 
seal slumbering upon the outer rocks, the white gulls soar- 
ing overhead, the porpoises pursuing their rude gambols 
along the shore, and the curlew, the loon, the black duck, 
and the coot, the brant, with his dappled neck, and the 
oldwife, with her strange, wild, vocal melody, swimming 
gracefully in the coves, and rising and sinking with the 
swell of the tide. The moonlight evenings here are ex- 
ceedingly lovely ; and the phosphoric radiance of the bil- 
lows, on favorable nights, (making the waters look like a 
s6a of fire,) exhibits a scene of wonderful beauty. 

" But, however delightful Nahant may appear in sum- 
mer, it is surpassed by the gi-andeur and sublimity of a 
winter storm. When the strong east wind has swept over 
the Atlantic for several days, and the billows, wrought up 



N AH ANT. 189 

to fury, are foaming along like living mountains — break- 
ing upon the precipitous cliffs — dashing into the rough 
gorges — thundering in the subterranean caverns of rocks, 
and throwing the white foam and spray, like vast columns 
of smoke, hundi-eds of feet in the air, above the tallest 
cliffs — an appearance is presented which the wildest 
imagination cannot surpass. Then the ocean — checked 
in its headlong career by a simple bar of sand — as if 
mad with its detention, roars like protracted thunder ; and 
the wild sea birds, borne along by the furious waters, are 
dashed to death against the cliffs. Standing at such an 
hour upon the rocks, I have seen the waves bend bars of 
iron an inch in diameter double, float rocks of granite six- 
teen feet in length, as if they were timbers of wood, and 
the wind, seizing the white gull in its irresistible embrace, 
bear her, shrieking, many miles into Lynn woods. In 
summer a day at Nahant is delightful ; and a storm in 
winter is glorious, but terrible." 




CHAPTER XX 

BOSTON HARBOR. ISLANDS. — ^ FARM SCHOOL. ALMS- 
HOUSE. FORT INDEPENDENCE. FORT WINTHROP. 




The readiest way of regaining the city is to take pas- 
sage on board that tririi little steamer, the " Nelly Baker." 
The trip occupies only about forty minutes, and is one of 

(190) 



ISLANDS IN BOSTON HARBOR. FARM SCHOOL. 191 

the most delightful that can be imagined. Shooting off 
from the rocky peninsula, and leaving behind Nahant, 
with its enchanting associations, we have time, as the little 
steamer goes puffing along, to see the Islands in Boston 
Harbor ; and if there are natural beauties, romantic ele- 
vations, or silent and wild retreats in the vicinity of Bos- 
ton, they are in the harbor. These islands are gradually 
wearing away ; and where lai-ge herds of cattle once fed, 
the ocean now rolls its angry billows, and lashes with an 
overwhelming surge the last remains of earth. 

TVe can see the Lower Lights or, farther off, the smoke 
rising from Hull. Nearer by, George's Island^ with com- 
manding Fort Warren upon it, ready to annihilate any 
intruder ; (this island is the key to the harbor, command- 
ing the open sea, and rising in some places nearly fifty 
feet above high water mark ;) and the rocks of Nix's Mate 
may be seen, where tradition says a captain was murdered 
by his mate, and buried. The Lighthouse and the splen- 
did hotel, large and accommodating, in the form of a 
Greek cross, and with Colonel Mitchell as one of its pro- 
prietors, (whose benevolent and gentlemanly countenance 
smiles a welcome to all,) show plamly on Long Island. 
In the rear is Rainsford Island and the Quarantine 
Ground. Not far off are Spectacle and Thompson's 
Islands. On the latter is situated the Farm School. 
The objects of the institution are, to rescue from the ills 



192 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

and the temptations of poverty and neglect those who 
have been left without a parent's care ; to reclaim from 
moral exposure those who are treading the paths of dan- 
ger; and to offer to those whose only training would 
otherwise have been in the walks of vice, if not of crime, 
the greatest blessing which New England can bestow upon 
her most favored sons. The occupations and employments 
of the boys vary with the season. In spring, summer, 
and autumn, the larger boys work upon the garden and 
farm. The younger boys have small gardens of their own, 
which afford them recreation when released from school. 
In the winter season most of them attend school, where 
they are instructed in the learning usually taught m our 
common schools, and some of them are employed in 
making and mending clothes and shoes for the institution. 
The winter evenings are occupied with the study of geog- 
raphy and the use of globes, botany and practical agri- 
culture, lecturing on different subjects, singing, and reading. 
Every boy in the institution is required to be present 
during the evening exercises, if he is able. At the age 
of twenty-one each boy is entitled to a suit of clothes, and 
if apprenticed to a farmer, to one hundred dollars in money 
in addition. The boys are all comfortably clad with wool- 
len clothes, shoes, stockings, and caps, and appear to be 
as happy in their present situation as boys generally are 
under the paternal roof. They are well supplied with 



ALMSHOUSE. 193 

books, and required to keep them in order, their library 
containing about four hundi-ed volumes of well-selected 
books. Opportunities are occasionally offered to the 
friends of boys at the mstitution of visitmg them on the 
island in the summer months. 

On the long promontory in the rear is Squantum, the 
very name of which is sufficient to conjure up ideas of 
chowders, fisliing parties, &c. 

We shoot past Deer Island, on which stands the Alms- 
house. The form of this structure is that of a " Latin 
cross," having its four \vings radiating at right angles from 
a " central building." The central building is four stories 
high ; the lower story (on a uniform level with the cellars 
or work rooms of the north, east, and west wings) contains 
the bathing rooms, cleansing rooms, furnace, and fiiel 
rooms; the two next stories contain the general guard 
room, to be used also as a work room ; the next story is 
the chapel; and the upper story is the hospital. The 
south wing is four stories high ; the lower one contains the 
family kitchens and entry of the superintendent's family ; 
the second is appropriated for the family parlors of the 
superintendent, and a room for the use of the directors, 
together with the entrances and staircases, and the opening 
or carriage way for receiving the paupers. The staircases 
communicating with the guard room, and with the cleans- 
ing rooms in the lower story of the central building, are 
17 



194: SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

also located in this story. The two remaining stories 
are used for the family sleeping rooms, superintendent's 
office, officers' rooms, and bathing rooms, together with the 
entries, passages, closets, and staircases. Each of the 
north, east, and west wings is three stories high, with base- 
ments and attics over the whole surface of each wing. 
The basements are for work rooms. The remaining 
stories, including the attics, contain the wards, hospitals, 
and day rooms for the inmates, together with the sleeping 
and inspection rooms for the nurses and attendants. 
There is a chapel, with a gallery, occupying seventy-five 
by seventy-five feet, on the third floor of the central build- 
ing, equal in height to two stories. The floor of the 
chapel is on a level with the attic floors of the wings. It 
is well lighted, in a central position, of convenient access 
from all parts of the estabhshment, and is commodious 
enough for those who are able to attend religious wor- 
ship, out of even a larger population than twelve hundred. 

The paupers, as they arrive, are received at a central 
point, under the eye of the superintendent, in his office, as 
they approach ; thoroughly cleaned, if necessary, in the 
basement central apartments for cleansing; and distrib- 
uted, when prepared for distribution, to those parts of the 
building assigned to the classes to which they belong. 

As the channel narrows, we pass between Castle and 
Winthrop Islands. On the former stands Fort Inde- 



FORT INDEPENDENCE. 195 

PENDENCE. The following is the quaint description of 
the Castle as it was first built : " The Castle is built on the 
North-East of the Island, upon a rising hill, very advan- 
tageous to make many shots at such ships as shall offer to 
enter the Harbor, without their good leave and Hking ; 
the Commander of it is one Captain Davenport, a man 
approved for his faithfulness, courage, and skill, the Mas- 
ter Canoneer is an active Ingineer ; also this Castle hath 
cost about four thousand pounds, yet are not this poor pil- 
grim people weary of maintaining it in good repair ; it is 
of very good use to awe any insolent persons, that putting 
confidence in their ships and sails, shall offer any injury to 
the people, or contemn their Government ; and they have 
certain signals of alarums, which suddenly spread through 
the whole country." By these alarums is meant the can- 
non and beacon light upon the great natural pinnacle of 
Beacon Hill. 

It was afterwards rebuilt with pine trees and earth. In 
a short time this also became useless, and a small castle 
was built, with brick walls, and had three rooms in it ; a 
dwelling room, a lodging room over it, and a gun room 
over that. The erection of this castle gave rise to the 
present name of the island. At one time there was like- 
wise a strong building erected on the island for the recep- 
tion of convicts whose crimes deserved the gallows, but 
by the lenity of the government had their punishment 



196 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



changed. Here abode the celebrated Stephen Burroughs. 
This island belongs to the United States, by which Fort 
Independence has been erected on the castle ruins. 




On the west side of the wall a tombstone stands, beneath 
which sleeps the good old Edward Pursley, whose spirit, 




FORT WINTHROP. 197 

we trust, has spent nearly a century in heaven. There is 
likewise an ancient slab, small, of red sandstone, bearing 
the name of Nathaniel Ely, but no date, and, stranger to 
relate, no epitaph ! But tui'ning the western flank of a 
battery that fronts on the channel towards the city, we be- 
hold a different monument, each of whose four faces bears 
an inscription. Here, the name — an officer of U. S. 
Light Artillery ; there, that the stone is erected by the 
officers of his regiment; on the third side, that he fell 
near the spot ; and on the fourth, the distich from Collins's 
beautiful ode : — 

" Here Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
To deck the turf that wraps his clay." 

Here we may observe the wonderful beauty of the har- 
bor, with its cities on land, and its steeple-pointed ship- 
ping, in the midst of which sit so lovely the flocks of 
graceful and motionless islands. 

Governor's Island lies about one mile north of Castle 
Island, and was first called Conant's Island. It was de- 
mised to Governor Winthrop in 1632, and for many years 
after was called the Governor's Garden. Here the United 
States government is building a fortress called Fort Win- 
throp. Its situation is very commanding, and in some 
respects superior to Castle Island. 

It is a pleasing occupation, as we glide along, to watch 
17* 



198 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

the outward-bound vessels, their canvas first becoming 
dim as they tend towards the distant horizon, and finally 
blotted out in the misty obscurity of the sea distance. 
The imagination loves to follow them in their flight, and 
picture their adventures on that vast watery expanse 
whose daily history is full of marvel, and whose dark 
depths shroud mysteries never to be unfolded to mortal 
ken. 

. Few visitors, after landing at Liverpool Wharf, (once, 
under the title of " Griffin's Wharf," so celebrated for the 
waste of English tea that occurred there,) do not cherish 
the most pleasing reminiscences of their visit to Nahant 
and sail up Boston Harbor. 




CHAPTER XXI. 

BLACKSTONE SQUARE. FRANKLIN SQUARE. WILLIAMS 

MARKET. FOREST HILLS CEMETERY. 

Forest Hills Cemetery is situated between Norfolk 
and Bristol Turnpike, Walk Hill, Canterbury, and Scar- 
borough Streets, in Roxbury. It may be reached fi-om 
the Providence Depot., or by omnibus ; but it will be found 
more pleasing to go by omnibus, and return in the cars. 
As the omnibus rolls along, we can catch a hasty view 
of Williams Market, of the high stone walls of the Ceme- 
tery, and of Blachstone and Franklin Squares. 

The former (Blackstone Square) on the west side of 
Washington Street, beyond No. 773, containing one hun- 
dred and five thousand feet of land, and now laid out 
with young trees, is an ornament to this portion of 
the city. The fence is constructed of iron, and has a 
length of thirteen hundred feet, the cost of which was five 
thousand dollars. Of this sum, two thousand dollars were 
contributed by the property holders or residents around 

the square. 

(199) 



200 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



Franklin Square is opposite Blackstone Square, and 
contains the same quantity of ground, and is improved in 
the same style as the former. A Cochituate fountain is 
provided in the centre of each square, at a cost of seven 




hundred and fifty dollars each, exclusive of the pipe and 
vase. 

A hasty glance is all we catch of fine dwellings and 
beautiful gardens, as we pass rapidly through Roxbury. 
But at length we arrive at the Cemetery, the description 
of which (by permission of Mr. Crafts) we are allowed to 
borrow from " The Guide to Forest Hills," of which he is 
the author. 



FOREST HILLS CEMETERY. 201 

The approaches to Forest Hills from all sides are 
through pleasant and quiet roads, by well-cultivated lands, 
dehghtful rural residences, or by the wilder beauties of 
unadorned nature. In the season of verdure and flowers, 
few more agreeable drives can be found in the vicinity of 
Boston than through the streets and avenues that lead to 
the cemetery. There are beautiful views in every dii-ec- 
tion from the elevated grounds, and in the valleys or the 
woods many a nook may be observed where cottages may 
nestle, while all around are springing up elegant villas, 
and pleasant grounds mark the progress of taste and 
refinement. But from no direction is the cemetery notice- 
able at any distance, except perhaps on the south-eastern 
side. It is shut out from the world, a calm retreat, though 
near the rapid tide of life. 

The main entrance to the cemetery is reached from the 
highway, Scarborough Street, by a broad avenue, which 
curves up a gentle ascent, till it reaches the gateway. As 
it approaches the gateway, this avenue is divided by a 
group of trees, but unites again directly in front of the 
entrance. The gateway at this entrance is of somewhat 
imposing dimensions, the whole structure having a front 
of one hundred and sixty feet. The carriage way is 
through an Egyptian portico, copied from an ancient por- 
tico at Garsery, on the Upper Nile. On each side, a lit- 
tle removed, are smaller gates for pedestrians, and near 



FOREST HILLS CEMETERY. 203 

these are small lodges coiTesponding with the gateway in 
style. 

Upon the outer architrave of the gateway are inscribed, 
in golden letters, the words, — 

" THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH 

I 'will fear no evil." 

On the interior architrave, in the same kind of letters, are 
the words, — 

"I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE." 

Consecrated June 28, 1848. 

The gateway and lodges are built of wood, painted and 
sanded in imitation of Jersey sandstone. 

There are other entrances on the southern and eastern 
sides of the cemetery. On the southern side the cemetery 
grounds do not extend to any public street, but an avenue 
thirty-three feet wide is laid out from Walk Hill Street to 
the boundary of the cemetery, where there is an entrance 
through a gate supported by Egyptian piers. This avenue 
is shaded on each side by thickly-growing evergreens, and 
from it the visitor enters at once upon one of the most 
beautiful parts of the cemetery. 

From the main entrance three avenues diverge towards 
different parts of the cemetery, that on the right, however, 
being designed to open into lands which have not yet been 



204 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



added to the grounds. Chestnut Avenue, which leads to 
the left, passes over a gentle elevation, and thence through 
the vale of Lake Dell towards Consecration Hill. On the 
right hand of this avenue, before reaching Lake Dell, 




rises a rocky eminence, called Snowfiahe Cliff, from a 
beautiful wild plant which grows at its base. From the 
summit of this rock there is a beautiful view of the village 



FOREST HILLS CEMETERY. 205 

of Jamaica Plain, and of the wooded hills of Brookline 
and the country beyond. 

Lake Dell is a natural pool, thickly overshadowed by 
trees which grow from its banks. On either side an ave- 
nue is laid out, and from these the wooded hills rise, en- 
closing a most quiet and beautiful dell, suggesting the 
name of the pond. 

From the eastern end of Lake Dell, Magnolia Avenue 
leads to the summit of Consecration Hill, which rises in 
an angle of the cemetery, and touches its northern and 
eastern boundaries. As its name indicates, the consecra- 
tion services were performed here, at the foot of its south- 
em slope, while the audience which was gathered there on 
that day were ranged upon the hill side. Consecration 
HilJ is one of the highest of the Forest Hills, and from 
its summit is a beautiful prospect. Through the vistas of 
the trees there are charming views of the Blue Hills and 
the intervening valley, and in other directions of hills and 
plains, of farm houses, villas, and cottages, with here and 
there a church spire, rising above the distant woods. 

Following Rock Maple Avenue, the visitor is led from 
the eastern end of Lake Dell around the base of Mount 
"Warren, which rises on the right, for the most part regu- 
larly but steeply, with here and there large boulders pro- 
truding above the surface. The side of Mount Warren is 
clothed with a thick growth of wood, and this avenue, in 
18 



206 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



the afternoon especially, lies in deep shadow under the 
foliage. Curving around the foot of the hill, it is a pleas- 
ant approach to some of the more attractive spots in the 



.F^^M .-. 




cemetery, and leads directly to the pleasant dell at the foot 
of Mount Dearborn and Fountain Hill. In this dell there 
is a little nook, which seems almost a grotto under the 



FOREST HILLS CEMETERY. 207 

overhanging foliage of trees and shrubs that grow on the 
precipitous sides of Fountain Hill. The deep shadows 
seem to spread a refreshing coohiess around, and invite 
one to rest on the garden seats, which are disposed on one 
side, while on the other is a rustic fountain — a natural 
spring, over which is erected a covering of rough stones. 
The stones are clothed with lichens, and in the interstices 
are planted moss, brakes, and other wild plants, the whole 
forming a pretty rustic monument. On the upper stone is 
fixed a bronze plate bearing the following words : — 

" WHOSOEATER DRINKETH OF THIS "WATER WILL THIRST AGAIN : BUT 

THE WATER THAT I SHALL GIVE WILL BE IN HIM A WELL OF 

WATER SPRINGING UP INTO EVERLASTING LIFE." 

From this vicinity two avenues lead up, through natural 
depressions, to the higher plain of the cemetery, one on 
each side of Mount Dearborn. The eastern side of this 
hill is very rough and precipitous, huge boulders being 
piled one above another, in fantastic shapes, clothed with 
shrubbery which grows in the fissures of the stones, and 
shaded by trees which have found root beneath them. 

From the Fountain Dell a steep path leads up the 
southern side of Mount Dearborn, and then up its more 
gentle western slope to the top. As seen from the plain 
on the west of the hill, it appears to be only a slight ele- 
vation, but it rises to a considerable height above the low 



208 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



land on the opposite side. On the summit is the monu- 
ment erected by his friends and fellow-citizens as a tribute 
to the memory of General Dearborn. The prospect from 




this hill is not very extensive, but glimpses may be had of 
some of the most finished and beautiful portions of the 
cemetery. 



FOKEST HILLS CEMETERY. 209 

From the dell which divides Mount Dearborn from 
Mount ^Varren an avenue leads, by a somewhat steep 
ascent, to the tojD of the latter, which is, in fact, rather 
table land than a hill. The prospect from Mount Warren 
is more hmited than that from some of the other hills, 
owing to the growth of the trees which skirt its sides. 
But here and there, through the trees, a distant picture 
of rural scenery may be seen, or a nearer one of some 
beautiful spot in the cemetery, with the marble monuments 
gleaming among the foliage and flowers. 

The burial lot of the Warren family is on the summit 
of Mount Warren. The ashes of General Warren, with 
others of the family, have recently been taken from their 
original resting place, deposited in urns, and reinterred in 
this lot ; so that these grounds are in fact the shrine which 
contains his sacred remains. 

The EHot Hills, which take their name from the apostle 
Eliot, are four eminences in the south-western part of the 
cemetery ; or, more correctly, there is but one hill, having 
several small ridges or undulations near its summit. The 
summit of this hill is of solid rock. • Here it is proposed 
to erect a monument to commemorate the virtues and 
labors of the devoted EHot, who for nearly sixty years 
was the pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, who, 
with so much of self-sacrifice and untiring energy, sought 
18* 



210 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

to civilize and Christianize the savage, and who so truly 
earned the noble title of " Apostle to the Indians." 

On the south of Mount Dearborn is another elevation 
of about the same height, which is called Fountain Hill, 
from the spring at its base, before alluded to. On the 
side of the Fountain Dell this hill is very precipitous, and 
thickly covered with trees and underwood. The eastern 
and south-eastern slopes are quite steep, but much less 
rugged and precipitous. Down its sides paths lead to 
Fountain Dell and towards Lake Hibiscus, which can be 
seen gleaming through the foliage. Towards the south a 
path of more gentle descent, overlooking the lake, leads 
down to the grounds in the vicinity of the Field of Mach- 
pelah. For a portion of the distance, the outer side of 
this path is supported by a rough wall, through which 
arbor vitae and other trees have been made to grow, the 
roots being planted below the wall. These trees, when 
they shall attain a larger growth, will add much to the 
picturesque beauty of this hill side. 

Into this portion of the cemetery the southern entrance 
opens, and in the vicinity of the gateway the pine grove 
retains more of its original solemn beauty. Down the 
avenue which leads from this gateway to Walk Hill Street, 
with its thick evergreens, is a view through the long vista 
which is sure tn attract the eye. 

Cypress Hill, which is the first elevation on the open 



FOREST HILLS CEMETERY. 211 

portion of the cemetery, immediately overlooks tlie quiet 
plain of " Canterbury," and a portion of the neighboring 
cemetery of Mount Hope. On the opposite side there 
are views of different portions of the cemetery grounds. 
There are but few trees on this hill, except those recently 
planted ; but there is a quiet charm about the spot, even 
in its openness and want of shade, so favorable for the 
distant prospect, that makes it one of the attractive local- 
ities of the cemetery. East of Cypress Hill extend the 
open grounds, presenting an undulating surface — gentle 
swells of land, which gradually descend to the fertile 
plain near the eastern boundary. 

Lake Hibiscus, already an attractive feature, promises 
to be one of the chief beauties of Forest Hills. It lies a 
short distance east of Fountain Hill, and is approached by 
avenues from different parts of the cemetery. In it tAvo 
islands have been formed, one of which contains a copious 
and never-failing spring of crystal water, which gushes up 
through the pebbly bottom of a little basin. About the 
island birches are planted, and willows are trained across 
the rustic bridge by which it is reached. This island is a 
favorite resort for visitors, who gather here to watch the 
graceful swans and the snowy ducks, as they sail about 
their domain. The beautiful swans, especially, are always 
objects of interest, and are quite ready to meet their vis- 
itors, and receive food from their hands. From them the 



212 



SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 



other island, which is larger than that containing the spring, 
takes its name, and to their use it is to be appropriated. 

The numerous boulders which are scattered over some 
parts of the cemetery have not only added to the pictu- 




resque character of its scenery, but have afforded an op- 
portunity for rustic ornament in laying out the grounds 



FOREST HILLS CEMETERY. 213 

Some of the most striking and picturesque rocks have 
been suffered to remain in their natural state, the labor 
of art going only so far as more clearly to develop their 
beauty, and to adorn the grounds around. One of the 
most picturesque groups of these rocks is on the lot of 
General William H. Sumner, called Sumner Hill, on the 
western slope of Mount Warren. They have not suffered 
by the hand of art, and the lot is one of the most beauti- 
ful and appropriate in the whole cemetery. 

The number of monuments at Forest Hills, compared 
with the number of lots which have been taken, is small. 
In this respect it presents a contrast with Mount Auburn, 
when that cemetery was in the early period of its exist- 
ence. There, monuments were erected on a large propor- 
tion of the lots first taken ; in many cases before the lots 
were enclosed, and before interments had been made in 
them. At Forest Hills, from the first, the erection of 
monuments seems to have been the exception rather than 
the rule. A large number of the lots are enclosed, and 
the name of the proprietor is borne upon the gate, with- 
out any monumental structure or stone. Even where 
interments have been made, the grave is in many cases 
adorned with flowers, or is marked by a simple slab or 
scroll, but has no more ostentatious stone to bear the in- 
scriptions which sorrow sometimes places over the beloved 
and the good. It is a simpler custom, perhaps less attrac- 



214 SUBURBAN SIGHTS. 

tive to the eye of some observers, but quite as impressive 
to the heart of him 

" who wanders through these solitudes 



In mood contemplative." 

Such is a brief outline of some of the scenery and 
beauties of Forest Hills, designed to lead the reader to 
those places where the beauties may be seen, rather than 
to describe them. The eye of taste will find much to ob- 
serve that has not here been mentioned, and in nearly all 
parts of the cemetery objects and views which will attract 
and delight. Time, too, must create much that will add 
to the attractions of the place. But, even now, it needs 
only a visit to see and to feel that Foiest Hills, in their 
natural and artificial beauty and fitness, are not surpassed 
by any other rural or garden cemetery. 




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